Demon Hunter's Guide to Domestic Bliss
by Eponastory
Summary: Dante and Roe have a happy life...well mostly. Raising kids isn't easy especially when your oldest is distant, your middle child is Daddy's little Princess, and your youngest is a trouble maker. Dante sometimes thinks he is out of his league on this, but at least Roe is there to guide him like a compass. Starts off right after What Would You Give (DantexOC)
1. Unexpected

**I absolutely love these little stories that are about 'Domestic Sparda's'. I don't see very many of them out on any sight, but it's just fun for me to put a character like Dante in these situations (even if it's not cannon) and have an imagination. Keep in mind that most of these situations are based off real experiences that either myself or friends of mine have gone through. Please note, that some of these things do deal with serious issues such as neglect, bullying, and yes, even normal fights between couples. Roe and Dante do argue and fight…a lot. At least in my HC. And if you would like to know more about it, I do have a Tumblr and I do try to explain everything about well, whatever I write. It's under Eponastory and I am okay with doing little imagines on request. **

The first thing she remembered doing was looking at the red numbers of the digital clock on her bedside table before getting up and running to the bathroom with the overwhelming feeling of nausea. She hugged the toilet as she sat on her knees and emptied everything, she had eaten for supper out of her stomach. When she finished, she grabbed a towel off the counter and wiped the bile that hung off her lips before feeling another rush of vomit coming up again.

Roe was obviously sick. At least she thought she was and figured it was just something she ate as she put a hand over her stomach to try and soothe the sore feeling of her abs. It was nasty business and thankfully she had braided her hair before going to bed that night. She stood up to flush the toilet and went over to the sink to look at herself in the mirror before turning the faucet on. She felt better at least. No more nausea and she didn't feel like she was sick anymore, so that was a plus. However, she hated the taste in her mouth, so she picked up her toothbrush and began to brush her teeth.

A few minutes later she turned off the light in the bathroom and made her way back into bed only to be wrapped in the warm embrace of her lover. Her lover who was adamant on going to his shop to wait on a potential client. Of course, he had been much better about staying put the past couple months after his excursion to Vie de Marli and into the Demon Realm.

Over the past couple years, she and Dante had come to terms with their relationship and of course now they were raising Cade together. Of course, Dante still lived by himself, but occasionally he would stay with her and his son. Most of the time he would come over when she asked him too, but usually it was before he had to leave for a minor job in a nearby town or whenever there was something going on. He had gotten used to the whole co-parenting thing with her, figuring that if she needed him to do so, he would allow Cade to stay with him at the shop for a few nights while she was out on her own job. They tended to trade off, but whenever they were coming back from their jobs or going too, they would be together.

Roe had finally fallen back asleep when her eyes popped open again and that familiar nausea was back making her stomach roll. Looking at the clock again it had only been ten minutes since she had crawled back into bed and Dante wrapped his arms around her in a protective embrace. She was pretty sure she was going to have to run to the bathroom again and this time there was no way of not waking Dante up. Roe could feel the burning sensation of vomit creeping up her throat as she stared at the red numbers and felt her heart start to race before finally deciding to rocket out of Dante's arms and to the bathroom yet again. She barely made it to the toilet before unleashing the torrent of undigested spaghetti for the second time that morning. Soon enough she was dry heaving as she had nothing in her stomach.

"Roe?" Dante's sleepy voice interrupted her session as she dry heaved again and instead of speaking a word, she just held up the palm of her hand as another cramp of her stomach made her heave again. He stood there in flannel pajama pants watching her suffer and this was beginning to piss her off.

"I'm okay." She managed to get out while catching her breath and taking the towel that he had decided to hand her to wipe the dribble off her lips. "I don't think that spaghetti agreed with me." She relaxed while sitting there on the floor of the bathroom.

"I'll get you some water." He said before turning around and leaving the bedroom to go to the kitchen.

The last couple years had gone by quick to say the least and while she had seen Dante change a little, he was still that depressed and sometimes moody individual that could stare a demon down for days. He had become more or less cocky lately and she had seen the old Dante in there somewhere. Right now, he was still unsure about how to be the best father he could be and that was taking a toll on his relationship with his son. It appears Dante still couldn't let go of that self-doubt.

When he came back into the bathroom with a glass of water, she took it from him eagerly as she stood up. It didn't take her long though before she was unable to keep that down as well. She was back to the toilet within two minutes and she was about to start crying because she hated being sick.

"Just leave me in here." At this point Dante had no idea what else to do as she sat on the floor resting her elbow on the seat of the toilet with tears running down her cheeks. "I'll just die on the floor of the bathroom."

"You aren't going to die." Dante went over to her and helped her up and got her to the sink so she could at least freshen up before he brought her back over to the bed. "You're just sick."

"And dying." It wasn't lost on him that she was the biggest baby when she got sick and the words that were coming out of her mouth proved it. Instead of getting in bed with her, he just decided now would be a good time to get ready to leave. "Are you just going to leave me here sick and alone?"

"No, I'll make sure Lady comes to check on you." He said as he got dressed. "Besides, I am useless at this sort of thing. I've never been sick a day in my life." She watched as he smirked at her while putting on those tight red leather pants. At least he changed some parts of his wardrobe.

"Fine." Roe said sinking more into her cocoon of covers as she watched him dress. The fact that he still wore red even after coming back from Hell as he put it was appealing to her. Of course, when he did come back, she was pissed off at him and then she jumped his bones. She remembered it being fun and probably the first time they had had sex in a very long time. It was just as passionate and as good as the first time. She blushed just thinking about it.

"Get some rest." He told her leaning down and giving her a kiss on the cheek before picking up Rebellion and the wonderful Ebony and Ivory. "I'll be back later on." He told her as he opened her bedroom door and walked out, shutting it quietly behind him.

She was finally able to fall asleep and when she woke back up Lady had just walked in her room with a bag from the pharmacy. Roe's head was foggy and when she sat up, she almost fell back down on the bed before the raven-haired woman caught her.

"When Dante called me at six in the morning saying you were sick, he wasn't kidding." Lady put a hand to Roe's forehead and shook her head. "No fever or anything, but you look like shit." Roe huffed and licked her dry lips. She was so thirsty that she could drink the fountain in the park dry, but she was afraid to even drink anything in fear of it coming back up right after.

"I'm probably just dehydrated." Lady looked at her with that look she always gave when there was something on her mind. The 'Yeah right' look is what Roe had come to call it and she dismissed it completely. "Really, I must have just eaten something bad last night and it's making me dehydrated."

"Sure. I'll go with that." Lady shoved the bag into Roe's lap and the chestnut-haired woman looked down before digging in it and pulling out a box.

"A pregnancy test?" Roe huffed and rolled her eyes. "Lady, I'm not pregnant. I've been on the pill since Dante and I got back together." Lady gave her the look again and then pointed to the bathroom.

"Go in there and pee on the stick." The huntress said as Roe glared back at her obviously being defiant and in denial of the whole possibility that she could be pregnant again. "If it's negative, I'll shut up." The fact that Lady even thought of this was beyond belief because while it wasn't uncommon for Roe to get sick sometimes, it was the fact that Lady seemed to know something just by Dante saying something to her.

"Okay fine. I'll pee on the goddamn stick." Roe said as she angrily got up and untangled her bed clothes from her body and marched to the bathroom yet again. This time however she went in with a box that she was positive would yield no worries at all. Doing as she was told she opened the box and pulled out the pregnancy test knowing how these things worked and got busy with following the procedure that was normally followed. "I'm peeing on the stick now!" She yelled out to let Lady know she was following through on the forcible instructions of her best friend.

"Good." Was the only response received from the huntress?

"This was a total waste of money you know." Roe insisted on saying to Lady so sure that the answer was negative, however, ten minutes of silence later she got a very different result than what she was expecting.

"Well?" Lady asked her when she walked out of the bathroom with a blank face and the stick in her hand. It was obvious what the result was, but the look on Roe's face was enough for Lady to realize that Roe may run away with Dante's child yet again. "Oh no, we aren't going to go through this again."

"How can this happen?" Roe said as she sat down and handed the stick over to Lady who took it carefully with a look of disgust on her face. "I'm pregnant."

"That tends to happen when a man and a woman have sex." Lady said handing the pregnancy test back to Roe and walking over to the bathroom to wash her hands. "The pill isn't always a hundred percent Roe."

"Right." She looked at the stick in her hands and sighed. Explaining this to Dante would probably go better than it did the last time because she wasn't going to keep it from him, but at the same time she was terrified he was going to be the one to leave her this time.

"You aren't going to leave this time." Lady said putting a hand on Roe's wrist to give her some sort of comfort and an apologetic look for the way she had convinced Roe last time that Dante wasn't fit to be a father. "I am not going to tell you Dante can't handle it this time because it's clear to both of us that he can. He loves Cade, you can tell, and he tries his best to break out of the void that his father left behind, so you just have to trust him this time."

"I'm terrified he is going to run away." The gray eyed beauty said.

"He won't." Lady was doing her best to reassure Roe and she was positive Dante would man up this time. "He's changed more in the last two years than over the seven you were away."

This was true. Roe knew it was because Dante had gone from self-destructive to attentive and docile in a way that only he would for her. He never admitted his feelings openly, but his actions spoke louder than words and if the sex was anything to go by, he was very open with how he felt for her. This gave her hope that he would stick around however, his reaction would probably be different to what she was hoping. She wouldn't know until he returned, but in the meantime, she would make an appointment to her doctor and get a true result.

At some point during the day, she decided to get up and go to Devil May Cry just to see if she could actually spill the beans to Dante about their newest addition. This of course was after taking three more tests from different brands and after all of them came out with the same result. She also made an appointment with her doctor to get the finalized results for sure via blood test, but other than that, she was positive she was officially pregnant with Dante's second child.

He had been in his usual position when she walked in through the doors of the shop that she had come to call a second home during her college years. With his feet up on the desk and his arms crossed over his chest while a magazine covered his face it was easy to see why he never got anything done at all. She had to give Dante credit though, at least the shop was a lot cleaner than it used to be, so he did have time to clean every now and then. Roe wasn't very quiet about her entrance and she knew that he knew she was here.

Walking up to his side she pulled the magazine off his face and looked down at him as he scrunched up his face in confusion. Dante had obviously thought she would be at home sleeping or just resting due to the fact she had been sick that very morning.

"Aren't you supposed to be sick?" He sat up as he removed his feet from the desk and rested his elbows on the desk in front of him. Honestly, Dante was aware that something was different about this whole thing and almost thought it was a dream, but when she sat down on the desk with her thigh touching the point of his elbow, it was clear that he was awake. Not that he hadn't been before.

"I feel better now." She didn't hesitate in her response and offered him a smile. "I found out the reason for my illness, but I'm not sure how to go about it." She watched as Dante raised an eyebrow.

"It's not life threatening is it?" His question did give her an opportunity to lead him into a guessing game and that worked better than just flat out telling him. "Just food poisoning, right?"

"Well, it wasn't food poisoning, but it is going to be something we have to adjust too." At that moment she realized how cliché this all seemed. Roe remembered watching a movie not too long ago where there was this couple who had been married for a few years and their only child had already graduated from high school only for the wife to learn she was pregnant again, eighteen years later. The way the wife told her husband was a lot like how she was going about it now and all off a sudden the image of Dante passing out flashed through her mind and she almost burst out laughing at it. "Dante, I need you to promise me something."

"Sure Babe, what is it?" Just seeing how he suddenly went from confused to concerned made her wonder how this was all going to come about.

"Don't freak out." Roe took a deep breath and stood up before walking around the desk to face him. Thankfully he was already sitting down so he wouldn't have far to fall if the image in her mind came true.

"About what?" Honestly, it all felt like it had been rushed because she hadn't really talked about the possibility of having more kids. She was pretty sure they didn't want more kids. She was starting to panic, and she started to rub the soft skin in between the fingers of her right hand with her left. "Roe?" She was so busy trying to figure out the words to say that she didn't hear him get up and walk around to her. "Stop." He grabbed on to her upper arms and made her look at him dead in the eye.

"Wow you are so much taller than I am." Roe let her thoughts slip out of her mouth yet again. "Cade is going to be just as tall as you are." He didn't say anything just looked at her in confusion yet again.

"Roe, what is going on?" Dante made her brain just stop as if it had hit a brick wall and she sighed. "You can tell me. I won't freak out."

"Cade was an accident and we weren't ever supposed to be together back then, but it happened. I know I made the mistake of keeping him from you and that is entirely on me, but if you had the chance to do it all over Dante, would you?" She looked at him with honest eyes and she could feel her heart beating a million miles per hour at the answer she was going to get. "Would you want the chance to make up for lost time now?"

"If you mean going back in time to keep you from getting on the plane?" Dante asked her and she gave him a nod before he bit his bottom lip thinking about a good answer for that. He let her go and walked around for a moment thinking hard about it before looking at her with a serious look on his face. "Things would be so different and I would still be an irresponsible kid with no idea how to raise a kid, but I would be in Cade's life. I mean, sure if given the chance to do it all over again then yeah, I'd do it." That gave her a clue as to what was going on in his head and that made her feel better about all of this. "It isn't likely to happen though." Knowing he couldn't change the past was what made him feel more human than he had ever felt before. If he had the chance to go back, he would in a heartbeat and maybe then he and Cade wouldn't have this odd relationship.

"Dante, we can't change what happened." He watched as she looked down at her feet and started twiddling her thumbs in nervousness. The hunter had this feeling over the past few days that something was up with her. It was just nagging in the back of his head and it wouldn't go away. "We can change what is about to happen."

"What is about to happen, Roe?" The nagging feeling returned and suddenly it intensified along with his instinct to eliminate all threats nearby. He was fully prepared to take on the ranks of hell in order to prevent whatever apocalypse was coming his way even if it was because Roe had found some ancient artifact that unleashed Hell on Earth. It wouldn't be her fault. "Roe?" He almost growled out.

"Parenthood." Did he hear her right? "More specifically Parenthood part deux." Dante's brain stopped. All processes came to a complete halt and he was pretty sure the floor was going to drop out from beneath him like that one time it did on that stupid island. He had just come back from Hell, literally, and now he heard the words Parenthood. "Dante?"

"Babe, what do you mean by Parenthood?" He sat down on the edge of his desk with his hand to his forehead as he was pretty sure he felt a headache coming on. He really didn't get headaches, but sometimes he felt like he was getting one. It was a strange thing.

"I mean I'm pregnant." He looked up at her with wide eyes.

"Pregnant?" When the words came out of her mouth, Dante was sure the entire world was going to explode. Sure, he was rational. He could deal with this, but he was satisfied with just the one kid. After all he did promise Mundus his son would see him the next time around because he really had no plans on living longer than he had at this point. He sighed and looked at his beloved. "Are you sure?"

"I'm positive." Roe sighed before adding. "Four times over." All he could do was nod and bite his bottom lip while scrunching his eyebrows in thought for the second or third time in the last few minutes.

With this news, Dante wasn't sure if he felt excited or terrified at the prospect of becoming a father for the second time. Granted, he hadn't been there with Cade was born and then the whole conversation made total sense in that moment. A lot of things made sense now. The moodiness, the lack of her cycle, her tenderness in certain areas of her body, and of course the morning sickness. He felt dumb in that moment because he didn't put two and two together. Of course, it's not like a man would be able to tell what was going on, but he wasn't a normal man. He paid attention to detail and he just knew when things were off.

"That explains the nagging in the back of my head." He said to himself.

"What was that?" Obviously, she caught it and walked over to him.

"I think I knew, just didn't really put it together." He rubbed his chin as she sat down next to him on the desk. "We are closer than last time, so I noticed some things." Closer in the intimate way of course because while he wasn't there all the time, they had a relationship that was deeper than it was. Everything now was because they wanted it like that. He put an arm around her shoulders.

"So, you are okay with this?" Roe asked him and he thought about it for a moment.

"It was going to happen eventually." He smirked at her.


	2. Mara

Dante had not prepared himself for this.

"Don't you smile at me, young lady." The six-month-old smiled widely as he scowled at the mess she had made in her diaper. "Your mom goes off on an errand to get away from us for a while and this is what you do?" The red-haired infant only smiled wider at the funny look Dante was giving her as he attempted to change her diaper. By now he was a pro at it, but in the beginning, he didn't know one end from the other. "You should be ashamed."

Dante quickly got his little Princess tidied up and comfortable with a clean diaper before snapping her little onesie in place. He had to hand it to himself for doing a great job with caring for an infant by himself. It had taken Roe a few weeks to warm up to the idea of leaving her daughter with him and Cade. Now he was content with it while Mara was trying to grab her feet. At this point in time, she was teething, but other than that she was a pretty happy baby.

"Dad! I'm going to Nate's!" He heard his son's voice as the kid ran down the hall and down the stairs.

"Okay sure, bye!" The father said as the front door slammed downstairs. "Looks like it's just you and me Princess." He grabbed his daughter's feet and leaned down to blow raspberries on them only to get a good giggle out of the little girl.

If truth could be told Dante, was happy with his life now. He was still going out on jobs, but it was maybe once a week and when he got back from those jobs, he was home. He had officially moved in with Roe and Cade a week before Mara had been born, and good thing he did because once she was in labor, the baby wasn't slowing down for anyone. She had almost been born in a car.

Things had certainly changed. Especially for Dante, who had been so introverted until he was handed his daughter for the first time. After that, he just let himself go. He was happy for once in his life and even Roe commented on that several times.

"Let's go see what Mom left us for lunch." He picked up his little girl and held her against his shoulder as she chewed on her hands. Mara was getting pretty good at grabbing for things and she had already mastered the art of rolling over to the point where she was rolling all over the place. She had almost rolled off the changing table more than a dozen times already and luckily Dante was fast enough to catch her.

He didn't think she would get seriously hurt if she fell, but he didn't want to find out either, so he just caught her. Usually he would catch her by the ankle or the back of her little shirt, but sometimes he'd catch her right as she rolled. The first time she had rolled off, he was looking for a fresh diaper and she just flipped over and started to fall. He didn't think he could move any faster, he was pretty sure he teleport that time and pretty sure he had a heart attack too. By now, he was used to it.

The funny thing was, that she never did it for Roe. Now that Dante thought about it, Mara would do everything around him. The first time she smiled, she did it for him. The first time she laughed, it was also when Roe was not around. The same thing when she learned to roll and now, she was starting to sit up more, she never did it with Roe around. He felt bad for Roe because she would miss everything.

As Dante made his way into the kitchen he quickly went over to the refrigerator and opened it up only to find nothing in there but bottles full of her breast milk and a few cans of grape soda. Obviously, Roe had cleaned it out before leaving. This also meant she was getting groceries, and this also meant she was probably going to bring home some pizza. He did manage to find one of Mara's teething rings in there, so he pulled it out and handed it to her.

"Looks like I am going to starve." He smiled as his daughter went to town on the cold gel filled ring. It wouldn't be long before she would start to get fussy for a bottle, so he pulled one out of the refrigerator and set it on the counter for later. "Let's go watch TV."

Dante brought Mara into the living room and set her down on the rug where her blanket was already laid out from that morning. Cade had put pillows all around to keep her from rolling away when he watched her earlier so this made Dante's job easier. Instead of laying on the couch, he laid there on the floor next to where Mara was on her back playing with her little teething ring and gurgling.

Before he knew it, she would be crawling all over the place and getting into everything she could find. He knew she was going to be trouble when she got to the so called 'terrible twos' and if he were to be honest, he was already dreading her teenage years. Luckily, he had a while to go for that. Right now, he was gearing up for Cade's teenage years, but he didn't think his son could be any worse than he was as a teen. Of course, when Dante was a teen, he was running around as Tony Redgrave and dropped out of high school to be a mercenary. Hopefully, that was not in the cards for his son.

"What are you doing?" He looked over to where Mara had rolled to and saw that she was trying to scoot along on her belly. She was kicking her little legs out and trying to figure out how to move herself along the floor, but she was getting frustrated. He really thought she was belly flopping her way to the edge of her little pillow fort, and that is what it looked like, but she was getting nowhere fast. "Here we go." He knew that face she was making. She was starting to get mad because she wasn't getting anywhere, and she cried when she got mad.

Mara still had her teething ring in her little fist as she flopped with her legs kicking out like a little frog. Dante couldn't help but chuckle at the sight, knowing that she was about to start crying. She was even making those little grunting sounds when she rolled too. After a moment of trying but failing she started to whimper and that is when Dante decided to pick her up and put her in front of him on her back. He couldn't stand to see her cry, it was worse than when Roe cried, but it really hurt his heart. The hunter rolled on his stomach and began to blow raspberries into her little belly, which immediately made her giggle in that baby way. When Dante went to lift his head up, he realized that she had grabbed some of his hair and was still giggling a good bit about it.

"Ouch!" He said and she couldn't hold back her laughter as he pretended to be in pain. "Okay, let go of Daddy's hair." Dante grabbed her little fists and opened them to get his silver locks from her little hands. As soon as he could get his hair free, she grabbed on to more and instead of keeping his head down he pulled her up to a sitting position and did the same thing. "Princess, you are making this really difficult."

She started to babble as he made her let go of his hair again and finally got his head out of range. Dante was glad she was babbling and giggling instead of crying at this point because sooner or later she was going to get fussy and want to eat.

"I'm back!" Dante heard Roe's voice coming from the kitchen as she came in through the garage door. "Dante?" She called out to him.

"In here!" He called out to her while he was making faces at his daughter. He was pretty sure Roe could hear her giggling from where she was.

"What is your Daddy doing?" He didn't move as Roe went to sit down behind her daughter. "Is he making funny faces at you again?" He watched as the love of his life picked up their daughter and put her in her lap.

"Anything to keep her from getting fussy." He winked at her as he sat up.

"I thought so."


	3. Morning Routine

Roe's morning always began with a cup of hot tea at six in the morning. While she drank her tea, she was also working on getting Cade's lunch ready for school and of course making sure all his homework from the night before was packed in his backpack. Her son always left his homework neatly stacked on the table after he finished so either she or Dante would go over it with him.

Then came the important part at six thirty.

Roe walked up the stairs with her cup of tea in hand going to the door just past the bathroom on the right and knocked on it. That had been Cade's rule lately. Knock before entering and if he didn't respond, just go in. Roe did just that and found her son hanging halfway off the bed as usual with his head covered with a pillow. Even at eleven years old, he still slept like he did when he was a baby. Instead of gently shaking him, she turned the lights on and pulled the covers off.

"Get up!" She said in her 'mom voice' and all Cade did was curl up in a ball with the pillow still over his head. She rolled her eyes and remarked to herself about how he was just like his father.

"Moooooom." He groaned out rolling over grabbing on to the pillow with one hand and reaching for his covers with the other. Only, he couldn't find the covers and groaned some more.

"Get up, Cade. It's time for school." The mother said as she went to leave the room. "I'll be back in five minutes, if you aren't up, I'll get your father." She would always threaten to get Dante who was probably doing his own morning routine by now, since he hardly slept as it is. When Dante woke Cade up, he would literally pick the mattress up and flip his son out of the bed.

"Okay fine. I'll get up." Her son removed the pillow from his head scrunching up his face when he opened his eyes. "Just don't get Dad. Please don't get Dad." Roe smiled because she won this time. Tomorrow would probably be a different story. She walked out of his room and went to Mara's door and peeked in to see if she was awake yet.

Mara would usually sleep until seven or a little before, but that was okay with her. The longer Mara slept the more she could do in the mornings before bringing Cade to school. She closed the door quietly and made her way to her bedroom where she found Dante mostly dressed in jeans and a regular black t-shirt.

"What are your plans for the day?" He asked her when he saw her. He sat on the edge of the bed with a pair of socks in his hands.

"Well, I was thinking about taking Mara to the park after her nap later then maybe going get some lunch after that. Why?" She gave him a questioning look as he put his socks on. Dante was up to something and she was pretty sure it had something to do with the sudden want to buy a car.

"I'm going to Reading to look at a car." She raised an eyebrow. Reading was the next town over, and it was a good forty-minute drive out of Capulet going north.

"Please don't tell me you are going to buy a rust bucket." Roe remembered the last rust bucket Dante had bought. It was years ago, before Cade had been born, but he had spent years fixing that thing up and it wasn't until after they had reunited that she saw the results of his tinkering. She had to admit that little red mustang turned out pretty good, but when it came time sell it, the car sold for less that he put into it.

"I need something to do and Cade is going to need a car when he starts driving." He stood up to retrieve his boots out of his closet and then sat back down on the bed.

"You not only have the shop, but you have your kids. You have plenty to do." She crossed her arms ready for a fight because she knew she was right. They didn't argue much, but when they did, it was usually over something she found stupid.

"Babe, come on, let me have this?" He stood up and grabbed her by the arms with a pleading smile on his lips. It didn't take much to convince her and disarm her, but the moment he pulled her close and started to whisper sweet nothings in her ear about how much he really loved her and all of that, she melted.

"Okay, fine." Roe gave in and he gave her a very deep kiss as a thank you. "But you have to keep the garage clean."

"I know. Put everything back where I found it and all that. No sweat." He waved it all off and gave her a quick kiss. "I'll bring Cade to school."

"You better make sure he is up first. I had to threaten to get you this morning." She put her hands on her hips as Dante finished putting on his boots before walking out of their room and down the hall. She smirked as she listened for what would happen next.

"Hey, kid! Get up!" She heard Dante shout and then heard a squeak from her son. "Time to go to school!"

"Dad no!" She heard Cade yell before there was a thump on the floor. "For real?" She could almost see her son's face as he probably lied on the floor in his boxers with his father standing over him. She decided to see for herself the satisfaction on Dante's face after picking up the mattress and rolling their son off it. It did work every time and Cade hated it.

"Yeah, for real, Cade. Come on, I'm taking you to school today." She caught the smirk on Dante's face as he left his son's room and went across the hall to Mara's door. "I heard her giggle." He said seeing Roe in the hallway. She watched as the father of her children opened the door to their daughter's room and smiled as he heard Mara giggle. Mara played this game every morning where when you walked in her room she would be standing up in her crib giggling and as soon as you turned the light on she would fall down and put her butt in the air with her hands over her eyes. Dante would turn the light off and she would stand up again, then turn the light back on. "Yep, she's awake."

"Bring her to me when you get her ready." Roe put a hand on his arm as he opened the door and he nodded before going in and turning the light on.

"Hey Princess, what are you doing in here?" Roe heard him say as Mara's giggles rang out through the air. She turned away from Mara's room to see Cade making his way to his bathroom to do his business and then go dress for school. His hair was sticking up everywhere and as much as she wanted to cut his hair, he refused to even get a trim. He reminded her of Dante when she had met him again while in college. Dante wore his hair long then, of course he always wore long, but back then it was long. Almost shoulder length.

Making her way to her bedroom, she began to pull off her pajamas and put on her 'mom' clothes as Cade would call them. Leggings and her tunic shirts. After getting dressed and brushing her hair and teeth, Dante had come into their room holding Mara and talking to her. The conversations that Dante had with his daughter were priceless in Roe's eyes, because she had never seen him so happy in all his life.

"So, you and Mom are going to the park today. Do you want to go to the park?" At this point, Mara had learned to say a lot of words, but they were only words that were easy.

"No." The one-year old girl said as she put her face into Dante's shoulder. Mara was her daddy's little princess from day one, if it didn't involve him, she wasn't happy.

"No? Why not?" Roe spoke up and Mara hid her face from her mother. "Mara? Don't you want to go play at the park?"

"No." Dante lifted an eyebrow and looked at the red headed woman in front of him with a small smile. It seemed 'No' was Mara's word of choice now.

"What about this, you go to the park with Mom, then after we go to lunch and then go get ice cream?" He asked both Roe and Mara trying to come up with a way to get his daughter on board with the idea of going with her mother. The whole reason she was saying 'no' was because she wanted to be with 'Dada' all the time. "What do you say Princess?"

"No." Dante rolled his eyes. He was trying hard, but Mara wasn't easy to please.

"Okay, that's it little miss, you are coming with me." Roe said before reaching for her daughter who quickly wrapped her little arms around her father's neck and started to whimper.

"No!" At this point Roe had grabbed on to her daughter and Dante was trying to hand her over, but Mara curled her fingers into the hair at the base of his neck.

"Yeah, that's my hair." If there was one pain that really bothered him, it was getting his hair pulled. He could be impaled in the chest with his own sword but pull his hair and he turned into a crybaby and it made no sense to Roe. "Let go of my hair, Mara." Over the last year he had learned to use the 'Dad' voice and it usually worked. Not this time.

"No! No! No! No!" Mara was now frantically trying to hold on to him and as soon as he knew Roe had her firmly in her grasp, he moved his hands to pull his hair from Mara's grasp. At this point Mara was having a tantrum about leaving her Father's presence. "No!"

"Mara Anne Aiden! You better stop this right now!" Roe said pulling her daughter free from Dante who was quick to put a good foot in between them. The little girl was kicking and screaming, trying to get out of Roe's grasp but she put an end to it by softly patting her daughter's butt and getting Mara's attention. "Stop it right now!"

"No!" Mara stopped moving but didn't stop crying at this point. She was so upset that she just cried and cried. She just didn't understand why she couldn't be with her father all the time and Roe knew that was the issue. Roe looked from her daughter to Dante who seemed to be a little upset about this, but he knew that this was something that kids just did. While he was new at this whole temper tantrum thing, it seemed Roe was more experienced at it and he could imagine why. He was positive Cade was ten times worse than Mara at this age and that's why Roe made it all look easy.

"She'll be alright. I've got her." Roe assured him that this was nothing to worry about. On the other hand, this was the first real tantrum Mara had made over Dante leaving. It hadn't been a problem before, but Mara was almost fourteen months old. "I'll see you at lunch." She gave Dante a smile and he nodded before leaving the room.

He made his way down to Cade's room to find the kid putting his shoes on and grabbing his baseball cap off the foot board of his bed. Dante didn't know the exact reason why Cade wore a hat to school, but he had a hunch it had to do with his hair. He knocked on the open door to let his son know he was there waiting.

"I'm ready." Cade said as he put the black baseball cap on his head and walked out the door with his father following him.

"I thought we would take the bike this morning." Dante told his son as they walked down the stairs and into the kitchen. "Go grab your helmet." For Roe's sake, they both wore helmets when riding on the motorcycle to school. When it was just Dante, there was no need for helmets. She had stressed that it would be better to look like a responsible parent than not.

With that said, he walked into the garage and picked up the helmet Roe made him get.


	4. Bullies

**So I made an oopsie on posting the last chapters…I did it through text box and that was a bad idea. I apologize. No worries, it is now fixed! **

Cade was pretty sure he hated school. It wasn't because he wasn't learning anything or he had bad grades, no, it was because of the kids. Middle school was no joke. The kids were meaner and while he knew he could easily take anyone in a fight, he wasn't that kind of person. Well, his dad made sure he wasn't that kind of person.

When his mother dropped him off at school, he had gone straight to the tree that he and Nate usually hung out under in the commons area. Nate was usually the last one to arrive and that was okay, unless Adam and Rodney decided to come bother him. It just happened to be one of those mornings where Adam and Rodney were bored enough to come bother him as he leaned up against the tree.

"The old man is leaning against the tree again. What's the matter? Did you loose your cane?" The skinny toothpick with the bed head was Adam and the mass of wasted space next to him was Rodney. Rodney wasn't fat by any means, he was just muscular and just overall big boned, but that made the kid intimidating to everyone else. Cade wasn't afraid of him.

"Yeah I did, I think it's up your ass." His mother would probably lose her mind if she heard him say that, but she wasn't there to hear it, so it didn't matter.

"Oh that's a good one." Rodney said to Adam, who went from smiling to angry in the flash of a second. "You're in for it now, Cadie."

"Don't call me that." The platinum haired kid said before Rodney smirked.

"What are you going to do about it?" Adam said and Cade rolled his eyes before Rodney reached over and grabbed the baseball cap off his head. "Ha! Nothing, because you're too old."

"You want your hat back?" Rodney held it in front of Cade to try and get a reaction out of him, but it wouldn't work. At this point, Cade was focusing on trying not to get angry, but it was really hard. His father's words were running through his head from the last conversation they had. Only it was really hard not to want to punch their faces in. "I guess not."

"I like your new hat Rodney. It looks better on you than on the old man." The toothpick said as Rodney put the cap on his head. Rodney taking his cap wasn't what bothered Cade, a hat was nothing and could be replaced. "Hey, is it true that your dad is a dead beat and the guy that drops you off on the motorcycle is your mom's boyfriend?"

"No, that guy is my dad." Cade crossed his arms over his chest.

"He can't be, old men don't ride motorcycles." Adam and Rodney had never really seen Cade's father without that helmet on, so it was assumed that Cade's real dad was an old fart. "His mom is pretty hot though." That was another thing that bothered Cade. Adam and Rodney were eighth graders who were going through puberty and everything that had boobs was hot to them.

"Don't talk about my Mom." There was one thing that set Cade off and that was someone talking about his mother.

"Why not? She's hot." Adam said and Rodney laughed. The thought of these kids thinking about his mom that way was just gross and insulting to his mother. "Her boyfriend is lucky. You're old man was probably lucky too."

"Don't. Talk. About. My. Mom!" Cade said launching his fist at Adam's face and breaking his nose. Rodney started laughing when Adam started to cry like a baby with his nose squirting blood all over the place. Then Cade went after Rodney and punched him in the stomach. "Fuck you!"

"Whoa." Cade turned around to see Nate standing there with a shocked look on his face and then the sound of a whistle being blown made Cade sigh.

"Great. Now I'm going to get suspended."

Thirty minutes later Cade was sitting out side of the principle's office next to Rodney and Adam in silence. Adam had his head tilted back with a bunch of tissues sticking out of his nostrils and breathing through his mouth. The large bump on his nose suggested that it was indeed broken and Cade almost felt proud of himself for it, while Rodney was sitting there with his forearms covering his stomach. At least Cade got his cap back.

"Adam, Mr. Hayes would like to talk to you now." The secretary, Mrs. Right said and Adam got up to leave just Cade and Rodney on the bench. "Cade, your father is on his way." That was a relief. Cade would rather see his father than have to deal with his mother.

"You are so going to get expelled." Rodney pipped up next to him and Cade just glared at him raising his fist and the other boy scooted down to where Adam had sat. "Don't hurt me."

Cade just rolled his eyes at how pathetic the boy had become. He was a sixth grader who just took out a couple kids older than he was all because they insulted his mother. They obviously had no idea who they were dealing with and it gave him a boost to his ego. He never really wanted to hurt anyone, but they had pushed him to do it and he didn't regret it at all. It wasn't until he saw his father come around the corner that he suddenly felt two feet tall.

His father stopped in front of Rodney and looked him over, sizing him up almost to see what damage Cade had done. The kid almost peed his pants when he looked up to see who was standing in front of him. Dante was standing there in his black leather pants that he wore out on jobs recently and a black shirt. It looked like he just came from Devil May Cry with the way that he was dressed. He had his arms crossed and was extremely intimidating at the moment.

"Cade, is this the kid?" The boy in question was shaking like a leaf and it made Cade feel so good that his father was being well, his father.

"One of them." Cade looked up at his father and then pointed to the door that had Mr. Hayes behind it with Adam. "The other one is in there."

"Right. Well, I think I'll just sit here." Dante signaled for Cade to move over so he could park himself in between the two boys. He leaned over and whispered in Cade's ear. "I want to make them as uncomfortable as I can."

Cade decided that his father was very good at making people squirm when he wanted them too and this was proof of it because Rodney was practically sitting on top of the armrest. The poor kid was terrified of the man. Rodney relaxed when the door opened and Adam walked out with Mr. Hayes behind him. Adam who had never seen Cade's father before looked confused when he saw the man sitting on the bench with the kid he bullied.

"Cade?" The balding Mr. Hayes asked and the boy stood up with Dante following his lead. "You must be his father, Mr?"

"Just call me Dante, no need for that proper stuff with me." Cade felt awkward as his father shook the principle's hand with a smirk.

"Come on, lets get this over with." The attitude Mr. Hayes had didn't sit well with either of them as it seemed the man didn't care about Cade or his father. "After hearing both Adam and Rodney's story, it seems as though you are the one that initiated everything, Cade. Now, I know you are a very good student and with good grades, but this doesn't excuse the fact that you punched both of them for no reason."

"No reason? Look I don't know what those two kids said to cover their own butts, but Cade doesn't do anything without a reason." Cade sunk down in his chair as his father went to his defense. "What he did was wrong, but I'm pretty sure those two out there deserve it."

"Well, then what happened Cade?" Mr. Hayes clasped his hands together turning his attention to the boy in the chair. The carbon copy of the man sitting next to him. "Tell me your side of the story."

"What's the point? I'm still going to get suspended." The kid crossed his arms over his chest and sighed. Dante looked at his son and knew that he was right, but raised an eyebrow to encourage Cade to speak more about it, and he did. "They started talking about my mom. Saying bad things about her."

"What did they say Cade?" Dante spoke up wanting to hear more about the situation.

"They kept telling me she was hot and nice to look at." That was the nice way of putting it and Dante appreciated that, but it was kind of gross that kids were thinking about his woman like that. "I got angry and I punched Adam and then Rodney."

"I see." The principle said pulling out a suspension report from his drawer and putting it on his desk. "Unfortunately, I still have to suspend you Cade. I know this is the first time, but you hurt two kids and we cant have that here."

"I knew it." Cade huffed and Dante's face became impassive. It was wrong, but that was how things went. Bullies went free and kids defending themselves got the heat for it, and Dante was pretty sure this would happen again.

"Sign your name right here Cade and you can come back to school on Monday." Cade did as he was told and signed the form with a grim look on his face. Cade would have four days of no school and then the weekend. Dante knew Roe was going to be upset about this, but this also gave the hunter a good idea on how to help Cade with this situation. "I'll get your teachers to put your work together and you can pick them up tomorrow."

"Sure thing." Dante said standing up and holding out his hand to the balding man. "You are doing what you have to do."

That was the last thing that Dante said before pulling his son out of that office and past the two boys who were still sitting on the bench waiting for their parents to show up. The fact that their parents hadn't shown up yet said a lot about those two and Dante felt better about himself. He was a better parent than he thought he could ever be.

"Get in the jeep." He handed the keys to Roe's Jeep to Cade and sent him ahead while he decided to go talk to the two boys on the bench. When he got to them, the boys looked up at him with wide eyes. "First off, you are really lucky that's all Cade did to you. Second, don't talk about my son's mother like you did or you will have me to deal with." He was laying down the law. "Third, you can swing by our house anytime if you need anything."

"What?" The toothpick boy asked not understanding what Dante meant.

"Food, shower, whatever you need. You can even call and someone will go get you." Both boys looked at each other then looked back up to Dante who had a smirk on his face.

"Why would you do that?" The thicker kid asked him and he looked down and pointed to his shoes.

"Your shoes are worn out and almost too small." It wasn't because he really liked the shoes, but because his parents or parent couldn't afford a new pair of shoes for him. Dante knew this was the way to get the kids to stop bullying Cade and it worked. "That and your parents aren't here. Look, you don't have to tell anything to anyone about what goes on at home, just know that our door is always open to you." More like Roe would never turn away a hungry kid. Dante on the other hand remembered why kids bullied and why they didn't know how to say they needed help.

"Sure, okay." The thin boy said as Dante nodded and walked away. He was going to make sure his son wasn't bullied ever again and not for the reasons parents always thought. It was because Cade did not know his potential and could hurt someone unintentionally. He didn't want to see a 'next time'.


	5. Rust Bucket

Cade had been sleeping well when all of a sudden he was on the floor trying to figure out what just happened. His father had picked up the mattress again and rolled him out of the bed on to the floor and now he was staring up at his father who didn't understand the meaning of 'no school'. The eleven year old laid there on the floor staring up at the ceiling when his father grabbed him by the ankle and started to drag him to the other side of his bed. Cade sighed as his father looked down on him again with a smirk.

"Get up. We are going to Berwick." Was all his father said before walking out of the room. Obviously, Dante wanted to take him on some father/son adventure filled with life lessons and bad dad jokes, but Cade could only roll his eyes at that. What was in Berwick? "Now Cade!"

"Fine." He rolled over grabbing his covers and throwing them on the bed, before going to the bathroom and doing his thing.

"What time are you going to be back?" Roe was feeding Mara her breakfast when Dante walked into the kitchen to grab his cup of coffee.

"Probably before supper. I have a client coming in tonight, so I need to be back before then." He went into the garage and grabbed one of the old back packs that Roe had insisted on keeping and began putting some tools in it before going back into the house. "I think this place might have what I'm looking for."

"You didn't tell him you were looking at a car did you?" Roe was focused on getting Mara to eat her little blueberries and she kept throwing them at her mother. The woman rolled her eyes and picked them out of her bust before throwing them at the trashcan.

"No, I want him to pick it out." He took a sip of his coffee and put it down on the island. "It's going to be for him and we are going to work on it together."

"So this is more of a father/son bonding thing." She caught on to what her significant other was saying and tried to pop a berry into her daughter's mouth. "I gotcha."

"It's one of the things I wished I could've done with my dad, only that wouldn't have happened even if he were alive." Dante in all his wisdom, decided that this was the best thing he could do for his son in the moment. Between the trouble at school and his attitude towards life in general right now, this is what they both needed. "Look, it's better this than hunting demons with me."

"No, no, you're right. I'd rather he work on a car with you than take up your trade." Roe said as she cleaned the blueberry juice away from her daughter's mouth. "I know you want him to live a normal human life too."

"Yeah, that's right." Now that was a decision he had made for Cade and sure when Cade was old enough to choose what he wanted to do with his life, then sure, the trade was there. Dante didn't want his children to be in this business of his, but ultimately, it was their decision and he would support it. "Cade! Lets go!" He yelled and shortly after the boy came running down the stairs in into the kitchen dressed in his typical jeans, shirt, and converse shoes. He still refused to cut his hair. "Alright, we are taking the Jeep. I'll see you later." Dante moved to Roe to give her a kiss and then kissed his daughter on the head.

"You listen to your dad, Cade." Roe told her son as he waited on his father.

"Grab that bag." Dante pointed to the book bag on the floor next to the garage door and Cade immediately went to it and picked it up hearing the clanking of tools in it. What were they doing?

"Dad, where are we going?" Cade adjusted the back pack as he followed his father to the white jeep that sat in the garage.

"To Berwick." His father said opening the door to the jeep and getting in. Cade went around to the other side and got in the front seat after throwing the back pack in the back seat. "I thought I told you that."

"You did, but where in Berwick?" Cade pushed the button that opened the garage doors on the dashboard of the jeep. He liked his mom's jeep and he also liked that they rode around with the top off.

"You'll find out when you get there, now turn the radio up." There was a smiled on Dante's face when he backed out of the garage and down the driveway. Before long they were headbanging to the loud rock music as they rode down the highway.

"Why are we at a junk yard?" Cade said as the pulled up to a facility with nothing but wrecked cars lined up with their hoods open and parts exposed when the got to Berwick.

"You'll see." Dante drove into the yard and pulled up at the little trailer where the owner worked and when the crazy looking mechanic walked out of the door, Cade almost didn't get out of the Jeep. Dante stood up and held his arms out. "Hey, Trev! Do you ever take a shower?"

"Very funny, Asshat!" The long black hair of the mechanic was so greasy, Cade could see why his father made the joke. "You know you got balls showing up here."

"Bigger than yours." Dante winked and sat back down before getting out of the Jeep and walking up to the dirty mechanic to give him a half hug. "So, junk yard business?"

"It pays the bills. Hey, you know that plane you brought back from that island?" Dante couldn't ever forget about that bi-plane that he and Trish used to escape Mallet, it was World War I era.

"What about it?" Dante put his hands in his pockets looking at the man in front of him.

"Dude, that thing sold for two mill after I restored it." The Demon Hunter nodded at the man's confession. "I owe you big time."

"That's good, because I need a car." He waved at Cade to get out of the jeep and the kid ran over to his father to stand next to him. "Something I can restore with my kid."

"You have a kid?" Why did that always happen? It's like people didn't believe Dante could ever be a parent and that kind of disappointed him. "Wow. Hey was it that blond chick?"

"Eww no, she looks like my grandma." Cade said causing Trev to laugh and Dante to smirk. "Dude, what is wrong with you?"

"Anyway, what have you got?" Cade's father looked around the junk yard at all the cars, but didn't seem to like what he saw. "You know what I like."

"Yeah, I got a few things. Some are a little beat up and rusty, but otherwise they can be restored." Trev blinked before turning away and waving for Dante and Cade to follow him into the big building behind the little trailer. "I got a couple guys doing restores right now and they are coming along pretty good. Made a good chunk of money last year restoring a Martin for some dude overseas." He opened the door to the building and let them in. Cade couldn't believe what he saw. There were classic cars all over the place, some of them were just getting their paint jobs done and some were just starting on restoration.

"Whoa." He felt Dante's hand on top of his head and then his hair ruffled.

"Yeah, I have an Impala over there, just put on blocks yesterday. That Cobra over there is on it's last paint job, let me tell you, purrs like a kitten." Trev pointed to the white car with deep blue racing strips on it. "Then I have this beauty, 1956 Pontiac GTO. Just finished her up last week." Cade swore his father's eyes were watering at the cherry red paint on the car.

"She's gorgeous." Dante almost didn't want to touch it because the paint job was still fresh. If there was one thing he loved, it was classic muscle, not the new riced up cars they had popping up all over the place.

"Got a few rust buckets in the back waiting on some love if you want to check them out. I know how you like to fix them up yourself." Trev said before leading them out another door to a smaller building that housed the cars waiting for restore. The mechanic turned on the lights to reveal twenty or so cars all up on blocks with no tires on them and the hoods propped open. He pulled a clipboard off the wall over by the desk and flipped through the list of cars. "Okay, so I've got the El Camino over there. Slight body damage, hardly any rust, both axles are intact." He pointed to the yellow car in the corner.

Cade let his dad and the mechanic go through the list of cars as he wondered over to look at each car. He didn't know all of the makes and models, but he knew he liked the classic look like his father did. One thing he did notice was the car under a tarp in the back. It was the only car that was covered up and all he could see was a spot of powder blue coming through a hole in the tarp.

"What about this one?" He looked over to his father and pointed at the car.

"That one isn't for sale." Trev said, but then realized just who was looking at it. "Dante, you know about that one."

"Didn't think you still had it." He said before walking over to the car and pulling the dusty tarp off of it to reveal the powder blue mustang he had as a teenager. "First car I ever restored."

"Yeah, Dad said he couldn't let it go so he just put it here." Trev said putting a hand on the beautiful car that brought back memories for Dante and his old friend. "He paid you good money for that car."

"Yeah enough to pay for my shop." The Demon Hunter smiled and opened the door to get in. "You got the keys?"

"Yeah, man. They are tucked up in the visor." Dante pulled the visor down and the keys fell out into the palm of his hand. Putting the key into the ignition he turned the key and the car came roaring to life like a lion waking up from a long nap. Putting his foot on the accelerator, he pushed it down and made the car roar even louder, feeling nostalgic and hollering as the noise took over the building. The grin on Cade's face was enormous and he ran over to hop into the passenger side feeling the leather seats.

"Yeah Baby!" He hollered along with Dante before the car completely died.

"Ran out of gas." Dante looked over to his son who had the biggest grin on his face that made him feel a lot better about this trip with his son. "Trev, I think we need a mustang."

"Follow me, I got one you might like." Dante and Cade got out of the car and followed Trev over to a car that needed a lot of work. When Dante saw it, he was pretty sure it was going to need a lot of love before it would even get to running.

"Lets see what we've got under the hood." He went around to look at what was under the hood of the car and saw that it wasn't too bad. He reached in and started moving parts around, checking out the pistons and cylinders. "She's going to need a new everything." Dante dropped down and looked under the car to see if the axles were intact. "Axles and drive shaft look good."

"If you want her, she's yours." Trev said as Dante pulled himself out from under the car and stood up.

"Well Cade, you want her?" He looked over at his son who didn't know what was really going on. Cade had no idea that this was for him and he had no idea that they had come here just for him to pick out a car. The boy's eyes widened and then his mouth dropped.

"For real?" Dante rolled his eyes at his son's words.

"No, we just came here to drool over cars. Yeah, for real." He guessed it was an obvious answer because Cade started to smile and then vigorously nod his head. "Trev, he wants the car."

"I'll go get the paperwork." Trev said with a smile as Dante and Cade looked on their rust bucket.

"Here is the deal, this car is yours, but you have to help me restore it. When you turn sixteen, you get the keys and you do whatever you want with it. If you want to sell it, you get to sell it. If you want to keep it, you keep it, but you are going to be in the garage with me when we have the time." He said turning to his son and making the deal. "You don't help me, I get it and I get to sell it. Capiche?"

"Yes, Sir." Cade accepted the deal. He had five years to get the car restored and with his dad helping him, it would probably be quicker.

"Good, now go get that bag of tools out the jeep, we have to get some parts."


	6. Terrible Twos

Dante had just walked in the door when he stumbled upon a wild Mara in it's habitat.

Well, not really, she was just standing there with her little stuffed puppy named Ruby with her thumb in her mouth. No one in their right mind would pass up a cute two year old who was waiting for her Daddy to come home from a long hunt. He looked down at her and noticed she had already been bathed and dressed for bed, but that didn't stop him from smiling at her.

"Daddy!" She took her thumb out of her mouth and lifted her arms up in the air as a sign for 'pick me up' with a giant smile on her face. He couldn't resist her so, he did what she wanted and bent down to pick her up.

"What are you doing up, Princess? Shouldn't you be in bed?" Dante poked her on the tip of her nose and she giggled, dropping Ruby in the process. "Where's your mom?" He bent down to pick up the stuffed animal and handed it back to his daughter before walking into the kitchen.

"Mama! Daddy back!" Mara yelled out as Roe came from the utility room next to the garage with a basket full of fresh sheets.

"I see that." She walked over to Dante and gave him a kiss on the cheek before moving to the living room and then up the stairs. "Well, now that daddy is back, you can go night night."

"No! No night night!" Thus the terrible twos have made an appearance. "Daddy home." She was still working on words, but what could someone expect from a two year old who was overly spoiled. She was holding on to Dante's black shirt like her life depended on it, almost afraid that her mother was going to rip her from him.

"You want to put her to bed?" Roe looked back at him as she made it to the top of the stairs and she seemed to have had enough of her daughter for one day. Dante gave her a questioning look as to what her attitude was for and then decided it would be better just to keep his mouth shut until later.

"I got her, Babe. Don't worry." Now was a good time for that good ole Father/daughter talk. It was just going to be difficult because Mara was not very good at telling Dante everything because her vocabulary wasn't that developed. "Come on, Princess, let's get you to bed."

"No night night." She shook her head and then started to whine.

"Mara." He gave her that look. The look that said 'cut it out' otherwise known as the 'dad' look, but that didn't stop her. "Why are you crying?"

"Mama mean." The little girl's lip started to quiver as her father brought her into her room and Dante had to keep from coddling her. "Mama take Ruby."

"Why did mom take Ruby?" They stood in the middle of her room as he looked at his crying daughter.

"I pee pee on floor." Of course, they were in the middle of potty training and Mara seemed to do it on purpose when she didn't get her way. She cried even more when Dante looked at her with disapproving eyes. "I sorry!"

"We don't pee on the floor, Mara." He lowered his voice to get the point across and waited for her to calm down. "Are you going to do it again?"

"No." She shook her head. "I not do it more." Mara tucked her face into Dante's neck trying to find a way to get out of going to bed.

"You better not do it again." He told her putting her in her bed and tucking her in. "Go to bed, Princess." He gave her a kiss on the forehead and made sure Ruby was safely tucked into Mara's little arms. "I love you." He put a hand on her red hair and fluffed it.

"Okay Daddy." She grabbed on to his wrist with both her little hands to keep him from going anywhere, but he unwrapped her hands from him.

"Good night, Mara." Dante stood up and made sure her little lamp was on before turning off the lights and leaving her room.

"Dude! You saw that!" He heard Cade yelling out and Nate laughing from behind his son's door. Dante rolled his eyes and opened the door to see the two boys sitting on the floor in front of the TV playing video games. "I totally had him that time."

"Hey! What are ya'll doing?" Dante barked out and caused both boys to jump because they weren't expecting the hunter to come in. "Hey Nate, what's up?"

"Hey Dante. Nothing much, my parents are out for the weekend, so I guess that means you're stuck with me." Dante heard the brown haired boy say as he walked into the room and stood over them. Nate was an okay kid so, having him around didn't bother Dante at all.

"They went on a cruise." Cade spoke up as he focused on his game and Dante nodded in understanding.

"Sounds like a good time." He said ruffling the boys hair and then walked out. "Keep it down, your sister is trying to sleep." He shut the door and headed down the hall to his and Roe's bedroom where he found her changing the sheets on the bed. This meant he would have to take a shower before getting in bed.

"Did you fuss at your daughter?" She said as she tucked the sheet under the corner of her bed in somewhat of a mood. He could feel a fight coming on the moment he walked in the room and he wouldn't be the one starting it.

"I did." He moved to the chair in the corner of the room and began to take off his boots. "She told me what happened." From her end at least, he was pretty sure there was more to it, but he waited for Roe to tell him. For the moment he was more interested in taking off his other boot and then his socks. "So what really happened?"

"She threw all of her toys around the living room." That was typical of Mara, who would just pick up one toy and leave it before going to another, only to do the same thing. "While I was picking them up, she found her way into the kitchen and somehow got past the ties on the doors and pulled out all of the pots." Somehow this didn't surprise Dante.

"Then what happened?" He had to ask. He just had to ask.

"Dante, it went on all day and then when I put her in time out, she peed on the floor!" Roe stopped with the sheets and threw her hands up in the air in frustration. Dante had to admit that she looked pretty ragged and just exhausted. "I had to clean it up and she just giggled about it! I swear I gave birth to a little monster."

"Okay, first, Mara isn't a little monster. She's my kid. She is bound to be bad." Entirely true on his part because he was a bad kid. Well, not bad, but a handful. He stood up and went over to her, wrapping his arms around her from behind and kissing her on the neck.

"That's not the point. I swear she does this to torment me because I'm not the best mother in the world." Roe started crying and that's when Dante understood. Roe didn't think Mara loved her enough, but that was not true at all, Mara loved her. "I didn't have this much trouble with Cade."

"That's because I wasn't there." Bingo. He knew that he had spoiled Mara too much and it was harder on Roe than it was on him. Mara listened to him more than she did her mother and that right there made the difference in between their children. "I spoiled Mara."

"Yep. This is all your fault. I'm glad you acknowledge that." She patted his hands and removed herself from his embrace before drying her tears. "Go take a shower."

Later on, when they were in bed, Dante managed to get his arms around her and make amends for his spoiling of their daughter. Well, mostly anyway. Roe was apparently going through that time of the month, which explained why she was so moody and Dante was very thankful that he had gotten used to it. Living with a woman was fun, fantastic even, but there were those time where it was like walking on eggshells. This was one of those times.

"How did your job go?" Dante heard her ask in the darkness as he buried his face in her clean hair. She smelled so good that it was hard to not envision her in a field of lavender. He pulled her closer.

"It was okay." If snuffing out a demon from an abandoned church wasn't easy enough for him, he had no idea what was. He'd been getting calls like this a lot lately and he had a feeling he knew why, but he wasn't a hundred percent sure on it just yet. "The usual."

"Maybe you should take the boys somewhere for the weekend." Did he just hear her right? Take the boys somewhere while she stayed with Mara, who not too long ago frustrated her beyond belief? "Take them to go ride dirt bikes or something."

"Are you sure you're okay?" He lifted his head up and looked down at her in the moonlight and she looked up at him with a sly look in her eyes.

"I'm fine. I'm going to spend some time with Mara while you take your son and his friend somewhere and spoil him for once." Roe said before looking away from him and giving him a moment to think about what she just said and then he realized what this was about.

"Alright." Dante wouldn't pass up the opportunity to go do something involving bikes of any kind and the dirt bike that Cade got for Christmas was just sitting in the garage collecting dust. "I'll take them to the Pines tomorrow."

"Good." She told him as he moved his face back into her hair and closed his eyes. "I love you."

"Love you too." He mumbled. Tonight was a sleep night and he was going to sleep good too.


	7. Magazines

"Do I really have to talk to Dad about this?" The platinum haired preteen looked back at his mother who was sitting in her Jeep with the window down just outside of Devil May Cry. She took in a deep breath and sighed.

"Yes."

"Fine." He looked up at the sign that he had gotten really familiar with over the years and then decided to just get it over with.

"I'm going get groceries you can ride home with your father." He heard his mother say to him as he put a hand on the doorknob. His mother, he loved her, but she was really mad about what she found while cleaning his room that morning. Sighing, he turned the knob and walked into his father's shop.

"Hey, Kid." Dante was lying on the couch with a magazine over his face and his feet crossed at the ankles, but every time someone walked in, the man knew exactly who it was. "What's going on?"

"Uh...nothing." He really didn't want to have this conversation with his father, but his mother insisted because she said she didn't know how to talk to him about it. That and she was pretty mad about it too and he had no idea why she would be mad.

"Really?" His father removed the magazine from his face and looked at him with a questioning and also disbelieving look. "I doubt it. Your mom dropped you off." He threw the magazine onto the coffee table and sat up, swinging his feet over and standing up.

"Okay so, Mom may have found something in my room she didn't like." Cade found himself walking towards his father who, at this point, was almost to his desk. He felt like his father was going to get mad at him too, but then again, looking around the room there was probably no reason Dante would get upset. "She found my stash, Dad!" The boy was pleaded for some kind of backup on this.

"Oh." A man's stash was a man's stash. It was his sanctuary of pleasure when there wasn't any to get and it was essential for teenage boys. Dante felt for his kid. His stash had not been discovered by a girlfriend or wife, no, it had been discovered by his own mother. "Where did you hide it?"

"The top of my closet." Cade looked down at his hands in shame. That was like the number one rule of hiding ones 'stash' from a mother or wife. "She randomly decided it was time to clean out closets today and mine was first."

"Ouch." The demon hunter ran a hand through his hair and sighed as his son seemed to be disappointed in himself over this. It wasn't the end of the world, but it seemed that he would have to make both Cade and Roe understand. "Okay, sit over there and we are going to talk about this."

"No, dad it's okay." Cade started to panic because he didn't need to have 'the talk' with his father. He had already been through sex education in school, getting it from his dad was not ideal. "I've already had that talk."

"Cade, sit down." He pointed to the red couch that had been there forever in a day. The same couch that he and Roe had a make out session on when they found out she was pregnant with Mara. Shaking his head, he got up from his chair and made his way over to sit on the table across from the couch to look at his son. "I know you know about sex, but that is biology. This is...different." It was just as uncomfortable for him as it was for Cade.

"Dad, please no." Cade was almost to the point of pleading with puppy dog eyes to not hear about what his father had to say on the subject. "Please no."

"Did she throw away your stash?" Not the question that Cade was expecting, but it was better than the talk he thought he was going to get.

"Yeah." The kid sighed and looked up at his father with sad eyes. "She said she was going to burn them." Now, one would think that after living and knowing Dante their whole lives, this was almost expected of his son as well, but Roe obviously let that little fact slip from her mind. "Dad, she lost her mind."

"I agree. Which is why you can have my old stash." Also not what Cade was expecting, but he wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. "Bottom right drawer in my desk." Dante looked over to his desk and then smirked as Cade got up to go look. "Make sure you hide those well, they are practically vintage." He watched as his son opened the bottom drawer and started pulling out the magazines with barely clothed women on them with a huge smile on his face. The kid was happy again and that made Dante happy.

"Thanks, Dad." Cade was so caught up in looking through the old magazines that he didn't realize Dante was watching him.

"I want them back when you are done with them." Dante stood up and admired his handy work. Well, sort of. He still had to roll this over with Roe and he wasn't sure how she would feel about all of this. However, this was actually healthy for the kid and she had to understand that. There was nothing worse than a frustrated teenage boy with demon blood running through his veins and he remembered what that was like. Those magazines in his desk had saved him from a lot of trouble. He was pretty sure that if he didn't have them, he would have way more kids running around out there than just the two he had.

When they got home that night and Cade ran into the house with Dante's old stack of magazines, Roe got a glimpse of them as her son went running by her and up to his room. She looked at Dante as he put the keys to his mustang on the hook and pulled off his coat. The look on her face was one that he had expected and obviously, she was not so happy about this.

"What were those?" She asked him as he walked into the little room he had beside the laundry room to put away his two guns.

"Those were magazines." Dante said unloading the two pistols and locking them in a safe so curious little girls wouldn't get their hands on them. "They are mine."

"Want to explain?" He stood up and turned around to see her standing there with her arms crossed and that 'mom' look on her face.

"Babe, trust me on this. He needs them." He went up to her, putting his hands on her arms and moved her out of the way so he could pass.

"No he doesn't. He's just a boy, he isn't ready to start thinking about that stuff." Roe followed him out into the kitchen as he went to the refrigerator and pulled out a box of leftover Chinese food. "Dante?" The argument he knew was going to happen was about to happen.

"Roe, he's almost thirteen. He knows about girls and you don't get to decide when he becomes mature." He pulled on the drawer where the utensils were and grabbed a fork before he started eating his Lo Mien.

"Yeah, but I get to decide what I want in my house." Oh so that was where this was going. "I don't want those magazines in my house." The old 'this is my house' card was thrown on the table and that is where Dante had a card of his own, but he wouldn't use it yet.

"They are just magazines. I'd rather him have those than doing things he shouldn't be doing to make himself feel better." The look on Roe's face was that of disbelief, probably because she didn't want to accept that her little boy was probably thinking about girls all the time and what he would like to do with them. Dante understood that this was part of the process and while it did bother him a little, it clearly didn't bother him as much as it did Roe. "Come on, Babe. You have to let him grow up."

"He's my son and I get to chose what he can and can't do." And just like that, Dante felt as though he had been kicked in the gut. He dropped the fork in the container he had and put it on the island.

"First off, Cade is also my son. I get a say in what he wants to do!" He respected and loved her to death, but when it came to his kids, he was their advocate. Sometimes, Roe got in over her head with things involving the kids and he would have to back her up, but he saw what they were doing to make her feel frustrated. He would never go against her, but when he saw her being overbearing, he was the kids advocate. This always led to a fight between them, but in the end, she always saw what she had done wrong. It was a push and pull sort of thing. "You don't understand."

"Yeah I do." Roe put her hands on her hips and leaned into the argument while trying to make her point.

"No you don't, Roe." He wanted to punch something. She was a stubborn red head and always tried to win the arguments. "He is MY son! He is like me. If Trev's father didn't show me those magazines when I was his age, I'd have dozens of kids running around and you wouldn't even be here with me because of that." Don't get him wrong, he was not a virgin when they had met up again all those years ago, but it would've been much worse. "I don't know about you, but I do not want to be called Grandpa before I turn fifty." That was a very good point to throw down on his beloved. She crossed her arms and glared at him, trying to think of a better point to argue, but she just sighed instead.

"You really think you would've had a dozen kids by now?" Dante thought about it to himself after she asked the question and he was pretty sure that he would still be a loner and very much on a sexual rampage across Capulet in his younger years. If it weren't for Trev's father and his talk about the magazines when he was Cade's age, yeah it would be true.

"Yeah." He walked up to his girl and pulled her close. "Remember, I'm not just human and I'm not like my brother who could control his impulses." That was a very good point.

"Okay so, how do we deal with this?" She asked him, looking right up into his eyes.

"Just let him do his thing. If he wants to talk about it, he will. If not, then don't bother him with it." Dante gave himself a pat on the back for winning the argument and saving his son from a world of torment from his mother. Roe was a good mother, a very good mother, but she was trying to make up where her mother failed.

"But when Mara starts dating, I don't want to hear a peep out of you." Roe said before she gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"Mara isn't dating anyone until I'm dead."


	8. Mother Mayhem

Panic. Sheer panic was all Roe could feel when she got off the phone with the newest little tidbit of information from her mother. It wasn't that her mother had called, but the fact that when she looked around at her kitchen and the rest of her house, it was not up to standards. Her mother expected her to have maids take care of her house and the last time Annetta Marie Lafitte-Aiden had stepped foot in her house it had been a disaster.

Annetta Marie Lafitte-Aiden, wife to the late Michael Scott Aiden, was a French born aristocratic lady who had nothing, but people to wait on her hand and foot. She had her own private jet, a pampered French bred standard poodle, and a stable full of French bred warmbloods that competed in the highest levels of show jumping and dressage with the best of the best for trainers. Annetta was loaded. She expected nothing but the best from her children and she highly disapproved of Dante.

Don't get her wrong though, she loved her children. Roe was a responsible museum curator who got pregnant out of wedlock and still refused to marry the man who fathered her children. Roe's brother Michael Jr. was fifteen years older than she was and by the time Roe was in boarding school, Michael was already married to a respectable woman and a practicing lawyer from Harvard. Roe just couldn't catch up so Annetta was hard on her when she chose to go to school in Capulet and then even harder when she found out her daughter was pregnant.

The one thing Roe could not stand about her mother was that she was very condescending. She expected Roe to have maids clean her house every day to the point it was spotless. Toys on the floor were a huge bother to Annetta and she was more than willing to trod on Dante's roses, so to speak. So, when Roe picked up the phone to hear her mother's voice on the other side, that could only mean one thing.

Annetta Marie Lafitte-Aiden was coming in for a landing at the local airport.

"DANTE!" She yelled out at the top of her lungs and not even a second later he had somehow used his ability to teleport to show up right in front of her almost in a panic himself.

"What?!" He really thought something bad happened. Like she was hurt or something and instinct said to get to her as fast as he could. "What happened? Are you okay?"

"No. No, I'm not okay." She stepped away from the phone in a daze and gestured to the kitchen. There were dirty dishes in the sink, paper from the kids all over the table, Cade's science project was all over the island. There were three or four baskets of laundry in the utility room that needed to be washed. "My house is a disaster." She turned to him with the same dazed look in her eyes.

"Babe?" Dante was concerned that she had finally cracked and lost her mind over the dishes.

"Prepare for the apocalypse." He was sure she lost her mind when she said that. "My mother is coming." And then that nuclear bomb dropped on him.

"Oh." Dante would rather handle Demons than Roe's mother. Demons were a picnic compared to Annetta Marie Lafitte-Aiden. Especially when Annetta had liked Vergil more than Dante. "I'll get the dishes."

"I'll get the laundry, and can you get Cade to clean his room?" Roe said as she walked towards the laundry room with a tense look on her face. This was not going to be good.

After spending half the day cleaning, Dante stood with Roe and Cade in the kitchen with Mara in his arms as they looked at the spotless white quartz counter tops. He had done the dishes like a pro and even loaded the dishwasher the way Roe liked it loaded, so he thought he did good. Roe looked happy with the result of their cleaning and soon enough she would have to start cooking supper.

"I even got the oven clean." The mother said feeling rather good about herself. It wasn't as good as a maid could do, but it was as good as a mother could accomplish between taking care of a two-and-a-half-year-old and doing piles of laundry.

"Are you sure Grandmother is coming?" Cade asked looking at his mother and then to his father who looked back at her for conformation.

"You know she never calls unless she is coming for a visit." She maybe came once a year. The last time she came was right before Cade's birthday last year and it just so happened to be two weeks before he turned thirteen. Then the doorbell rang. "Okay, it could be Nate, but it's probably her."

"It's probably her." Dante said as he handed Mara to his son to follow Roe. He watched as she opened the door and then saw her mother standing there with the poodle right next to her. "And she brought the dog." He mumbled. It wasn't that he didn't like dogs, he just didn't like this dog.

"Rowena! My petite!" The very thick French accent that Annetta had did not change from the time they were children. As soon as the woman's brown eyes landed on Dante, she frowned. "Dante, how lovely it is to see you."

"I'm sure." Roe elbowed him in the ribs for the tone of voice and then he tried to force a smile. "Annetta, it's good to see you."

"Where are my grandchildren?" Dante watched as Roe's mother pushed her way past them and handed off the leash for the dog to him as if he were a servant. Oh, how he couldn't stand the woman. He heard the dog growl at him, and he looked down at the dog and almost growled back knowing that the dog could sense his demonic blood. The black poodle whined as his eyes flashed red and laid down at his feet.

Over supper, which consisted of a classic French dish that Annetta insisted Roe cook for her, but the kids didn't care for it. Mara spat it all back out or handed it to the dog who was waiting around for scraps. Dante even caught Cade doing the same thing and gave him a little smile knowing that French food was not their favorite.

"Oh, you should see Michael's new house, absolutely beautiful. His youngest just graduated high school and is going to Harvard as well." Roe hardly kept up with her brother because they weren't close. They may as well be strangers, only because of that age gap and the fact Michael really wanted nothing to do with her. "And you should see Matilda, she just got married to this nice boy."

"Matilda is how old now?" Roe asked her mother trying to make her think she really cared about her brother's family.

"She's twenty-one." The blond-haired woman said before taking a sip of her wine while Dante handed a piece of carrot to his daughter in her highchair. He was just as interested as his children at this point. "Don't you and Michael talk to each other?"

"Not really Mother, I think the last time we talked was when Cade was born." Roe wiped her mouth and put her napkin down on the table before standing up, obviously having enough of her mother for one night. "I have to go give Mara her bath."

"Okay my Petite. We will talk after then." Dante saw that condescending look in Annetta's eyes as he watched Roe come towards him with a frustrated look on her face. He put a hand on her hip as she got their daughter out of her highchair and then looked over at Cade who was ready to leave too.

"Go get ready for bed." He said to his son and the kid couldn't be happier to leave the dining room and practically ran out of the room. Dante was about to get serious with Annetta for a moment. "Not that I'm glad to see you, but why did you come here?" He picked rested his elbows on the table with that serious look on his face that usually meant laying down the law.

"I had hoped she had tossed you out by now." Dante nodded before standing up and leaving the dishes on the table.

"As you can see, I'm not that easy to get rid of." He was about to leave the room, but her voice stopped him.

"What would it take to get you to leave?" Dante smirked having been asked that question several times before by various people and demons. He was a pain in the ass, but this woman was a thorn in his side. "How much do I need to give you to leave my daughter and take your children with you?"

"Money isn't going to do it." He turned around and gave her a cocky smirk. "I think death would do the trick." If he were easy to kill, then he wouldn't have put that offer on the table. "See you later Annetta." He left the woman alone in the dining room.


	9. Mother's Madness

"Good morning, Mother." Roe came out on the deck in the back yard where her mother sat at the glass table. "How are you?" She said almost angrily.

"I am fine, my Petite. What is going on with you?" The French woman took a good sip of her coffee while looking at her daughter with a wondering glare. Where her daughter's attitude had come from was beyond her, but she was certain that it had to do with the man her daughter chose to stay with.

"I don't know mother, you tell me?" Roe sat down in the chair across from her and glared. "How about we start with Michael and how you sent him to Redgrave to track me down and try to convince me to put my son up for adoption." These were just some of the issues she had with her mother.

"And clearly I was right because you could've been a lawyer like your brother and married someone respectable." Roe had not told Dante any of this and she was pretty sure if she did tell him, it would be ugly. Her mother liked controlling her life so when she had decided to go to a different university, it was her father that had been her advocate. "You could've done so much better than that disgrace of a man."

"You have no idea of who he is, Mother." Roe would defend Dante with her life because she knew who he was and what he was. He was the only thing keeping this world safe and honestly, he was royalty in a way. His father ruled over the human world for over two thousand years and was practically a king. "You know nothing about him. What you think you know is wrong."

"His brother is a better match for you." Annetta said and Roe rolled her eyes.

"Vergil is dead, Mother. I couldn't marry a dead man." This was where Roe drew the line because Vergil may have loved her in his own way, but there was no doubt that he would've killed her on sight if she had run into him instead of Dante all those years ago. Dante told her that Vergil was not the same boy she remembered and that he desired nothing more than that of power. "Vergil would've killed me."

"No, he wouldn't have, he was such a sweet boy." Maybe it was time to tell her mother just exactly who Dante and Vergil are and what they are. What her children were part of and how they had a bloodline that was tainted by tragedy and how she would probably be part of the tragedy.

"You have no idea." Roe put her head in her hands and sighed. "Remember what happened to Dante's mother?

"How could I not? The poor woman died all alone in that fire." Roe wanted to cry because Eva's death had been so cut and dry. The authorities in Redgrave said it was just a house fire and the boys had either been kidnapped or had run away. Some even speculated that they had started the fire themselves because Eva abused them so much. That couldn't be further from the truth.

"She was killed by demons." Roe said with a tear falling down her cheek at Eva's memory. She loved Dante's mother deeply and when she had learned of Eva's death that was when she had grown apart from her own mother. "Demon's that wanted her son's dead because of their father." Roe watched as Annetta gave her a confused look trying to understand exactly what she was talking about and then the woman laughed.

"I knew that boy was full of stories. There is no way that is possible. Demons do not exist, and he just filled your head with lies so you would feel sorry for him." Roe couldn't believe her mother at this point. "I cannot believe I raised a daughter like you."

"And I can't believe I have a mother like you!" Roe slammed her hands on the glass table, knowing it wasn't going to break. "God Mother, can't you just listen to yourself for once? You are a narcissistic bitch who only cares about how people make you look. You have all these materialistic things and you care about only yourself. You wanted me to give up my son because you thought it was going to look bad on you to have a daughter who got pregnant out of wedlock!" Roe was about to unload on her mother. "He is the Son of Sparda, and my children are the grandchildren of Sparda. A legacy you cannot even compare to, Mother and I'll be damned if you come into my house and disrespect him and his family again!"

"Rowena! Do not talk to me that way again!" Annetta stood up with a glare on her face that could rival the God of Death himself, but that didn't matter to Roe. "I don't care if he is King of England, he will never be good enough for you."

"No, because the King of England doesn't even compare to the King of the Human Realm!" Roe yelled at her mother, who was going to be digging her own grave soon.

"Do you know how ridiculous that sounds? You need help, Rowena." Her mother walked around to her and grabbed her by her shoulders and shook her. "You have to get out of here. This man has driven you insane."

"She isn't going anywhere." Dante's voice came out from nowhere and Roe's eyes found him up on the roof. He had been watching this entire time, most likely after hearing them yell at each other. "Let her go Annetta." He jumped down from the roof and Annetta's eyes went wide seeing him land without making a sound.

"I'm not crazy, Mother." Roe removed her mother's hands from her shoulder and pushed her away. "I've known about this world for a long time and while you are jet-setting all over the world with your rich friends, he has been keeping me and our children safe. Even you, but you don't believe in such things."

"Like I said, death is the only thing that can get me to leave permanently and I'm not that easy to kill." He raised up his hand, showing her the knife that he had driven into the palm of his hand to make his point. "See?" He almost laughed because this was something he would do to make people uncomfortable. The fact that he could heal around the knife and it could stay lodged in his hand for a good while before taking it out and only then would it bleed.

"That's just a prop." Dante rolled his eyes and held his hand out to Annetta.

"Pull it out." He told Roe's mother and she hesitantly put her fingers around the black handle of the knife and pulled on it, after seeing the blood starting to come out, she had to close her eyes and then pulled the knife the rest of the way. When she opened her eyes, the knife was in her hand and the blade was bloody. The hole in Dante's hand was already starting to heal and he didn't even seem to be in pain. This alone made her eyes widen. "See? I'm the real deal. Not a king by any means, well, maybe to her. My old man was an asshole, but you take the cake."

"So, since this conversation is going nowhere, I think you should leave mother." Roe told Annetta who was still looking at the knife in her hand and then she threw it down on the wooden deck with her hand still covered in Dante's blood.

"You are both insane." Annetta said looking at her daughter in disbelief and then she lost it. "Get away from him Rowena!" She grabbed on to Roe's wrist with the bloody hand and tried to pull her away, but Roe had grabbed on to Dante who wouldn't ever let her go. "Let her go Devil!"

"What are you doing Mother!" Roe fought to get her wrist out of her mother's grasp as tears started to trail down her cheeks.

"I want you to come with me. Let him keep his spawn, I will not lose you to this monster!" If only Annetta had fought for Roe like this a long time ago and suddenly Dante pitied the woman.

"He isn't the monster. You are!" Roe was able to pull herself from her mother's grasp and she fell against Dante who wrapped his arm around her. He looked down at her as she watched her mother fall backwards onto the deck.

"How could you choose that Devil over your own mother?" The woman sat up on the deck with confusion lacing her features and Dante didn't even bother to help her up. Instead he just watched as the woman picked herself up and fixed her clothes. "If you stay with him, you are no longer my daughter."

"If that is what it has to be, Annetta, then so be it." Roe said as more tears trailed down her cheeks and Dante sighed behind her as they watched the woman in front of them look at them in shock.

"Fine then. You stay here with your abominations and their devil father; you are not to see me again." She said before walking into the house to gather her things and leave them alone. Roe turned to Dante and put her arms around him before she started to break down in sobs. He wrapped her in his arms and rubbed her back as she cried heavily into his shoulder.

"I've lost my whole family." The words came from her mouth and it almost felt like someone had shot him in the heart, but instead of acting on it he just kissed the side of her head knowing exactly what she felt like.

"No, you didn't." He had to reassure her that he was still here and that they had Cade and Mara still. Even Patty. He was pretty sure Lady and Trish counted too. "I'm right here, I'm never leaving you." He hugged her tight.

"Don't ever leave me."

"Never."


	10. Imaginary Friend

Mara had just turned three years old when Roe had noticed something odd going on around her house. It was like things were becoming misplaced and then when she went back to find those things, they would be in the right place. She would as Cade or Dante, but neither of them had an answer for her as to what was going on. Then when it was time to put Mara to bed, she started throwing out a strange name that Roe wasn't sure about.

"Mommy, leave a crack in the closet door for Meg." At first, Roe had just put it up to her daughter having an imaginary friend, but she did just what Mara asked. "And can you get Daddy to check under the bed?"

"I will, Baby. Goodnight." Roe gave her daughter a kiss on the head before walking out of her room to find Dante.

"Meg? Are you still here?" Mara sat up in bed looking at her closet door only to see it open on its own. "Okay. Goodnight Meg." The little girl laid down just in time for her father to come in and look under the bed.

"Okay Princess, no monsters under the bed." He was on his knees and then kissed her before standing up to see the closet door all the way open. Not thinking anything of it, he shut it before leaving.

"Daddy! You have to leave a crack in the door for Meg!" Mara was sitting up and a little upset, so he did what she asked for the little girl to go to sleep.

"Okay, I'm sorry Meg. Good night." That was the first instance of things going a little weird.

Two days later, Roe walked in on her daughter coloring on her bedroom wall.

"Mara! What are you doing?" She ran over to her daughter and grabbed the colors out of her hands.

"Mommy, I was just drawing a picture for Meg." The name Meg came up again and this was not surprising because some kids have imaginary friends.

"Well, if you want to draw for Meg, you have to draw on paper. Okay baby?" And that was that. Mara didn't draw on the walls again. The strange thing was that every morning Roe would go into Mara's room to wake her up, the closet door would be wide open. Now, she just assumed that Mara was getting up in the middle of the night to open it for Meg, but after asking Mara that wasn't the case.

It wasn't until they went grocery shopping the next day that things started to really get interesting. As Roe was pushing the grocery cart down the aisle with Mara in the seat, something had fallen out of the basket. Or rather, it had been picked up and thrown out of the basket mysteriously. Roe's eyes went wide and suddenly Mara started laughing.

"Meg, stop!" Roe had no idea that Mara's imaginary friend had gone with them to the grocery store and she stopped the cart. "Meg, you are scaring Mommy."

"Meg, whoever, or whatever you are, could you please stop throwing things out of my cart?" Roe politely asked even though inside she was freaking out and trying to hold it together. A can of peas does not just jump out of a cart.

"She said she will stop, Mommy." Mara said with a giggle as Roe just nodded her head and pressed on.

After checking out and getting all the groceries in the Jeep, along with Mara in her car seat, she got in the driver's seat and started the Jeep up. She checked to make sure her daughter was content in the back seat before putting the Jeep in reverse and backing out of the parking spot when Mara started screaming. Roe slammed on the breaks thinking something was seriously wrong with her daughter and put the vehicle in park before getting out to see what was going on.

"What's wrong?!" Roe said opening the door to the back seat and looking at her crying daughter who was hiccupping.

"You were leaving Meg!" Roe sighed and rolled her eyes.

"Where is Meg?" She played along with her daughter.

"She's over there." Mara pointed two cars down and Roe looked behind her to see where she was.

"Meg! We are leaving without you!" Roe yelled out and held the door open for the imaginary friend to dive into the back seat. "Okay is she in yet?"

"Yes Mommy. We can go now." Mara said with a happy smile. Roe shut the door and got back in the driver seat and booked it out of there back to home.

That night, she had a good talk with Dante about the whole thing.

"An imaginary friend that throws cans of peas out of a shopping cart?" He said as he pulled on his black undershirt. "Are you sure?"

"Positive." Roe sat at the end of the bed watching him get ready to go on a job. "We were just rolling down the aisle and I saw it, clear as day, lift up and out of the cart onto the floor."

"Sounds like something that happened to my Mom back when Verge and I were kids." Dante wasn't surprised by this at all. He just kept dressing himself, fastening buckles here and there. "Mom took us shopping one day and a can of corn just lifted itself out of the cart and onto the floor."

"That's really weird. You didn't say you had an imaginary friend." Dante shook his head.

"No actually, it wasn't an imaginary friend. More like a guardian. It was the whole reason I made it out of the closet Mom put me in before she died." He said with a soft tone in his voice as he remembered getting out of the closet and the flames just parted for him to get out of the burning house and then it was like someone was trying to keep him safe the entire time and guided him to that house on the edge of town. "I don't think it's a coincidence, Roe. I think whatever it is, finally made its way back and it's looking after Mara now."

"Are you sure about that?" She asked him and he smiled at her while picking up his boots and sitting down next to her. "What if it means her harm?"

"I don't think it does. My mother wasn't scared of it and until it does something to hurt her, I'm just going to let it be." Roe didn't know how to take that information, so she just took Dante's word for it as he sat next to her putting the boots on.

Later, when Roe got up to check on her daughter, she could hear Mara talking to her imaginary friend as though it were real. They were talking about Dante it seemed and Mara giggled before replying about how her Daddy was the best person in the world. She only wished she could see whatever it was that was talking to her daughter, but in the meantime, she would have to suffice for listening in.

"Mara, go to sleep." Roe opened the door and the little girl quickly lied down. "You too Meg, Mara needs her sleep."

Roe left a crack in the bedroom door and then walked back to her room where she got into bed and curled up. The other side of the bed where Dante slept was empty and she didn't sleep for the rest of the night.


	11. Dude

Dante had the trailer hooked up properly to the Jeep while the boys were loading up the dirt bikes. Today they were headed out to The Pines where Cade and Nate could get in some good Motocross in before possibly going to the next race. Dante agreed to take them for practice because Nate's father was off on a business trip so, it was left up to the Devil Hunter to be the one to bring them out.

"You think that kid with the green bike will be there today?" Nate asked his friend as he secured his dirt bike to the trailer. "He was there killing it last time."

"I don't know. He and his dad were there last time and they were about to pick a fight with your dad." Cade said as Dante brought out the bike, he had fixed up for Nate's dad a few days ago. "You think it's going to run?" Cade looked at the white and blue bike that had tripped the cable on a jump two weeks ago.

"We will find out." Dante rolled it up on the trailer and then tied it down before hopping off and then looking at the two boys.

"I'd like to see that guy pick a fight with Dante." Nate leaned over to Cade and whispered before the man walked away from the two teenagers.

"Dude, I think he would shit his pants if he picked a fight with my Dad." Cade turned around to make sure everything was secure before going into the garage to get the helmets and padding that they were required to have to even ride on the track. Not that Cade really needed it, but it was just rules that had to be followed. "Here, Dad needs one too." He threw the helmet that Dante usually wore to Nate and they went to put it in the back of the Jeep.

"Dude, I didn't notice the bike over there, where did that come from?" Nate said looking at the Hayabusa that Dante had brought home to mod for himself a couple months ago. "That's a sick bike."

"What's with all the 'Dude' this and 'Dude' that?" Dante said coming into the garage and closing the door to the kitchen behind him. "Since when do you say 'dude' all the time?"

"Dude, you totally say Dude all the time too." Nate said trying to get one on Cade's father.

"I do not." The demon hunter said in mock offense as he grabbed the little tool kit off the work bench in case, he needed to adjust something on the bike.

"Dude you totally do." He stopped and looked at Cade and Nate with a blank face.

"Get in the Jeep and shut up." He watched as the two boys pushed each other out of the way to get to the Jeep. Dante shook his head and closed the garage. "I don't say Dude that much." He grumbled as he got in the Jeep and they got on the road.

Thirty minutes later they had pulled up to the track and found that it was full of people trying to get ready for the next competition and there was no place to park. Dante had never seen it so full and then there were so many bikes on the track that there was a wait to get on. This would not do so he put the Jeep in reverse and pulled out of there, confusing the boys in the back seat.

"Dad, where are we going?" Cade looked behind him and saw the track becoming smaller and smaller until it was out of sight.

"Up the road." Both Cade and Nate looked at each other and then back to Dante who was focused on driving.

"Dude, we are going to the Hills." Dante swore if he heard 'Dude' one more time he was going to throw both boys out of the Jeep into the forest to fend for themselves. He was really beginning to hate that word. He looked back at Nate through the rear-view mirror and almost glared.

"Dude! No way!" Dante glared at his son this time.

"Dude! I got a funny joke!" Oh, now they were doing it on purpose. "What is funnier than twenty-four?"

"I don't know, Dude." Cade's voice came with a snicker and Dante tightened his grip on the steering wheel.

"Twenty-five!" Dante didn't know if that was the stupidest joke he had ever heard or if he wanted to log that in his memory for torture later. Apparently, it was so stupid that the boys just laughed over it anyway.

"Dude, that was so funny!" Dante couldn't take it anymore. It had to end.

"Enough already!" He yelled out at his son and Nate who stopped laughing, wondering what they did and then they realized.

"Dude, we said Dude way too much." If Dante could trigger right now, he would, but he didn't because then people would lose their minds and then he would be called a freak and the list went on. So, he kept driving.

"Oops. My Bad." What is with the slang kids use these days? Dante had no idea, but it was getting on his nerves. This reminded him of those two devil arms he found way back when, Agni and Rudra. His son and his son's friend reminded him of this situation.

"No talking until we get where we are going!" He turned around in his seat to look at the two shaggy haired teenagers with a glare and both stared back at him, probably wondering how he could drive while looking at them.

"Sorry."

"NO. Talking!" Now if those two kids were talking devil arms, he would've banged their heads together, but they were children so he couldn't do that. Oh, but he wanted too. He never thought in a million years that his own son would annoy him so much. "Good." He said after a moment of silence from the back seat.

It was going to be a long day.

_I know that this is a short one, but that is mostly because these are prompts that I have listed and pretty much they must be at least a thousand words. It's more of an exercise for me on writing short stories. No worries, I have one more to go before we get on to a main story. _


	12. Opportunity

"So, I got an interesting call from my other employers today." Roe said fluffing up her pillows and throwing them back on the bed as Dante closed the door. He looked at her with a raised eyebrow as he began to take off his clothes.

"And?" He said throwing a boot into his closet causing her to glare at him.

"They want me to go find some artifacts for them in this place called Fortuna." Somehow that rang a bell to Dante, but he wasn't sure where he had heard that name from. He decided to ignore the little nagging feeling in the back of his mind about it.

"Okay, so I take it you want to go?" He sat down on the bed and took his socks off and then his shirt. "I can stay with the kids."

"I'm not sure if I want to leave the kids for an extended amount of time." She hadn't been anywhere without Dante or the kids since Mara was born, so he could tell that she wasn't so keen on it.

"Babe, when was the last time you did something for yourself that you really enjoy?" He stood up and took off his pants and stood there in his underwear. The look on her face told him that maybe this was a good time to reconsider that doing something for yourself line.

"You mean like going straight into that shower and pinning me against a wall?" That was all that needed to be said before he dragged her in the bathroom and thus the decision was made.

The next morning, she still hadn't decided on what she wanted to do. She thought she had but seeing her three-year-old telling her father to have a good day before he left for a job made her realize she couldn't leave her kids just yet. Mara was still in that phase where she needed to be with her mother, but Dante was also insisting he could look after then while she went on a little adventure by herself. It was hard.

Roe spent the next two weeks thinking hard about it and her employer from The Black House said to take her time. They really wanted her to go and she was their only choice for whatever reason. Then she spent another week talking back and forth with her employer to see what exactly it was she would be doing in Fortuna.

It turned out that all they wanted her to do was find some books and a couple of artifacts listed and bring them back for auction. No big deal. They said a maximum of one week was all she needed, and they would pay for her expenses. Well, if that didn't sound like a vacation, she didn't know what did. So, when Dante got home the evening she agreed to go, she sat him down on the bed and began to tell him everything he needed to do for the next week.

"Okay, so Cade will ride to school with Nate and you will have to take care of Mara, which you have done before, so that shouldn't be a big deal right?" He listened to her as she paced counting off things on her fingers.

"Babe, we've got this. If I need any help, I'll get a hold of Nina and she will come help."

"Why not Lady?" Roe asked stopping.

"Because Lady is off doing her own job right now. You've been so caught up in this that you forgot, didn't you?" He watched her hit her forehead with the palm of her hand.

"Yeah I did." She sighed and sat down next to him on the bed putting her head on his shoulder. "I don't know if I can do this."

"Which is why you need to do this." He kissed her on the head. "You've been taking care of the kids and somewhat taking care of me for the last four years that you don't take any time for yourself." Dante was right about this and secretly he really wished she did go somewhere. He really wanted to go with her. "You need this."

"Yeah but..."

"Go." He told her and then grabbed her hand. "I've got this. A week with Mara isn't going to kill me." He was pretty sure he was going to regret those words later, especially since Cade was going to spend a lot of time at Nate's.

"So, you are just going to tell me to go and not even try to stop me?" This was kind of familiar to her.

"Let me think about it." He put his finger to his chin which had a bit of stubble on it. "No. Not really."

"And this doesn't bother you at all?" He shook his head and then pulled her down on the mattress with him as he leaned back.

"No, I can't say that it does, but if you don't come home, I'll just assume you are being held for ransom and then I'll go do my thing." He looked at her in the eyes with a smirk on his face and brought her hand up to his mouth to kiss it. "Although, I think they will pay me to take you back. You can be a lot to handle."

"That's because I have to deal with you, your son, and your daughter on a daily basis." She giggled as he held on to her.

"You think we could get more money by letting Mara get kidnapped?" Dante winked at her and then turned over on his side to look down at Roe. "People would pay us to take Mara back."

"She does have the gift of gab. She would rain terror on her kidnappers." She smiled at him.

"Sounds like a plan. I'll get right on it." He rolled back on his back and let her curl up to him.

"Why haven't we gotten married?" She asked and Dante froze. He never really thought about marriage, they were practically married by common law by now, but it wasn't official. He didn't know how to answer that.

"I thought we agreed that Marriage was just a piece of paper with no purpose?" He sat up and looked down at her where she laid and then turned over on her side away from him. Obviously, he said the wrong thing. "I don't know if that is us, Roe."

"Well, I guess not if you don't want to be permanently bonded with me for all eternity." She didn't say anything more and just laid there. He had made a mistake then and then tomorrow she would leave and still be angry with him for it.

"I'll think about it okay?" He put a hand on her thigh and squeezed it before making his way to the bathroom and taking a shower. They slept in the same bed that night, but they had their backs facing each other, but by morning Dante had found his way to her and had wrapped his arms around her.

_This will continue after the next main story. See you guys then!_


	13. Damsel in Distress

_Two weeks ago, ..._

_The rain came down from the dark sky above the cobblestone streets in Fortuna as a cloaked figure ran for her life. There was nothing but the light of streetlamps to illuminate everything around her and not even that was enough light as the Holy Knights chased after her. In her pocket was the amulet she remembered seeing so long ago around her lover's neck, a gift from his late mother. _

_"Don't let her get away! His Holiness wants her alive!" She heard the men behind her yell as she ran to a gated alley on the far end of the street. There was no way she was going to let 'His Holiness' have her and use her as some sort of experimental bait to attract a certain fly. It was bad enough she had other things to worry about. _

_She should've never stepped foot on this island. _

_As a matter of fact, she should have never left home. _

_She was able to slide under the gate just in time before the Knights caught up to her and she stood there on the other side looking at them for a moment, seeing the man she had come to know a Credo looking at her quite furiously. She removed her hood, allowing her long red hair to fall down her shoulders as it became soaked in the rain. _

_"What makes you think you will get away with this?" Credo yelled at her as one of his men worked to open the iron gate in front of her. "You know we will find you!" _

_"His Holiness can't keep me here forever, Credo." She said pulling the amulet out of her pocket. "He will come, like you want, but I don't think you will like the outcome." She showed Credo the silver amulet with the large red gem in the center and put it around her neck before walking away into the shadows. _

_"Damnit!" Credo kicked the gate trying to force it down and half in anger as he watched the woman walk away. "Spread out! Search for her!" He turned around in anger and yelled at his men before they scrambled away to do what he commanded. _

_"She got away again." The boy he had known for most of his life had come up out of nowhere and seemed to be picking a nerve. "What did she steal this time?" _

_"A priceless amulet." Credo relaxed and put himself in parade rest with his arms behind his back. "No matter, we will find her, and she will pay for her theft." He told the platinum haired boy before walking away in the rain. _

_Nero looked past the gate and down the alley to see if she was still close by and only saw nothing. Tomorrow, he thought, would be a better day to search for the woman who had caused nothing but trouble the last few days. Perhaps she had a stash somewhere that she was keeping hidden, like most thieves, but she worked differently. She was an enigma to the Holy Knights and to His Holiness himself. Maybe he would get his chance to prove himself by finding who was now known as 'The Red Fox'. _

Roe splashed water on her face and looked in the mirror not totally recognizing herself with her hair as short as it was. Or as dark in color as it was. She was pretty sure Dante would be upset if he could see her now after having to chop her red hair off and color it to disguise herself. She didn't like it either, but it was necessary for her to remain invisible to the Order. Sanctus was still upset about her stealing one of his precious relics and she had almost had her hands on something that she never thought she would see again.

The sword was broken in two. Something she never thought could happen to a devil arm of that power, but there it was, in two. She was pretty sure Vergil would be rolling in his grave knowing that his sword was in the hands of these people. Dante would be a little peeved about it for sure because well, that was possibly the only thing he had left of his brother.

She wiped her face off with a dry towel before covering her head with the white hood that all the people around Fortuna seemed to wear. It was a stupid idea, but as Pius as these people were, it was what they believed, and she could not fault them on it. Although, worshiping Sparda, was just as stupid. She had only met the demon a couple times as a child, and he had been intimidating to her. He towered over her and he seemed so cold, distant even, but she respected him a great deal. It wasn't until she had given birth to his grandchildren that she realized how much Dante had never learned from his father. He was better for it.

Roe sighed as she smoothed down the dark green dress, she had stolen a few days earlier and then walked out of the abandoned building as though she had lived in Fortuna her entire life. Today was the day that Sanctus had called for a sermon to celebrate the very good deeds of their Savior and how he had saved them all. Too bad there was more to that story than what the people believed. They were like sheep and she was a wolf in sheep's clothing. Hiding herself away until she could find a way off the island.

She followed the flow of people as they made their way towards the cathedral in the center of the city, occasionally bumping into a stranger or two and apologizing. Even though she wasn't one of them, she was still very polite about it. The whole reason she was going was to see exactly what was going to be said about her 'father in law' and how redundant it was to worship a demon that cared more about humans than his own sons. Yet, the people that surrounded her seemed to think nothing of it. Sparda's sons were just legend. Almost a myth.

She had to admit that the inside of the cathedral was very beautiful, and she gave whoever designed it credit, but the giant statue of Dante's father was very...off putting. It sat behind the alter as silent as a guardian long dead, and for a moment she could almost see it coming alive and swinging the great sword at everyone there. As she sat down in the back row of the audience she watched as everyone got themselves settled before the one person, she could truly appreciate walked out in front of them.

Kyrie.

She had only run into the sweet girl once, but she had made Roe's welcome to the island a very interesting experience. She had this innocent air about her and had the passion of the Christians Virgin Mary. It was like a breath of fresh air for Roe who had been at that time, just scouting the place out. Kyrie had thought she was just a tourist, one of the few that flocked to Fortuna, and had taken the time to show her around. At least until the white hair boy showed up and pulled her away.

There was just something about the boy, other than his hair and eyes, that screamed Dante. Now, Roe was positive Dante had never been to Fortuna before, so that didn't bother her, but she couldn't say the same for Dante's brother. Sure, Nero had the attitude of a shit eating rhino, but he was a decent kid. He reminded Roe of her own son and maybe that was the problem because she found herself wanting to get to know the kid. To possibly mother him in a way.

The congregation quieted as the young woman began to sing. The sound that Kyrie produced with her voice was almost like an angel's, if angels existed. Roe was jealous of the young woman's voice, but she could appreciate it as that was a talent that took skill to master. During her presentation, Nero had quietly slipped in unnoticed by most, except for Roe. She watched as the young man sat down casually with his headphones still blasting out music. If the boy was her son, she would've slapped him on the back of the head for being so rude.

As Kyrie's song ended, everyone remained silent just for a moment before applauding her for her wonderful talent. The young woman had such a beautiful smile on her face from all the attention she was getting, but also, she was just as humble about it. This was one of the many reasons that Kyrie was so important to Nero and that was why he followed her around like a lovesick puppy. It reminded her of how Dante was around her and she smiled at that little fact, missing him deeply.

Roe watched as Kyrie left the stage and shortly after, His Rotten Holiness took center stage. She could smell and see the lies coming off him from a thousand miles away and when he began to speak all she could hear was lie after lie coming off his silver tongue. No wonder he was after her, she saw through his bullshit the moment she stood in front of him.

"Two thousand years ago." He started and then Roe found herself incredibly bored. It was always some sort of tale that ended with how Sparda was such a great Demon. A savior. His sons could tell you otherwise.

She watched as Kyrie found her way to Nero, who pretended not to care so much about her, but Roe knew better. Somehow, Kyrie was the key to Nero's resolve and if she could speak with him and get him to understand what was going on here then maybe, just maybe, she could make it off the damn island.

"All this preaching is putting me to sleep," Roe caught the tail end of the conversation Nero was having with Kyrie and she watched as he stood up to leave only to be stopped by the sound of glass shattering and then someone dropping from the ceiling.

"You've got to be kidding me." She watched as the love of her life and father of her children had dropped down and landed in front of Sanctus and shot him point blank in the head with Ivory. Everyone in the building began to panic as the Holy Knights prepared themselves for a fight.

"Come on!" Someone grabbed her but she shrugged them off to watch the fight that was about to ensue.

"No thanks, I think I'm going to watch this." She sat down in the pew and watched as Dante turned around to see just who addressed him and it seemed as though they thought he was a threat. It sure didn't help that he had blood all over his face from shooting the old man in the face.

As wonderful as it was to see her beloved again, she wondered about who was taking care of their children. Obviously, it had to be someone they trusted without a doubt, and she was glad he was here. She wondered if Dante noticed she was there watching him fight his possible nephew. Roe knew how Dante worked, he was going to be a smart ass and piss the kid off by just staying silent. He would also mock the kid in his silence as well.

She swore she could see the future because as soon as the Holy Knights charged at Dante, he was on them like white on rice. In the meantime, Nero was dragging Kyrie out of the building, but she had dropped something.

"Credo!" The young woman yelled and ran for whatever it was she was running for and another civilian had collided with her, sending her to the floor.

"Kyrie!" Nero shouted out.

Roe could only watch as Dante played devil's advocate, turning slowly to see who had fallen at his feet. He was doing it to scare the living daylights out of the poor girl and at the same time, he looked like he wasn't sure about her. She looked up at him with fear in her brown eyes and then Nero charged at Dante with both feet aimed at the Devil Hunter's head, sending him flying.

"Oh, this is going to go so bad" Roe whispered under her breath as she watched the madness unfold. Credo went over to his sister and helped her up, telling Nero to stall Dante while he went to go help. This was when Roe decided her viewpoint needed to change. Call it intuition, but she needed to move.

It seemed that the two white haired individuals had come to a standstill on the arms of Sparda's likeness with guns pointed at each other while Roe made her way to a column on the far side of the massive room. Dante was too focused on Nero to notice her sneaking around and once she was out of sight, she pulled off her dress which concealed her black pants and white shirt she usually wore. With her hair being very short and nearly black, Dante may not recognize her anyway.

Gunshots, more gunshots, even more gunshots. A giant sword thrown across the room and just all out chaos was happening as the two fought each other. However, Nero couldn't hold a candle to Dante. She could tell that from just knowing him very well and knowing the experience he had versus Nero's inexperience. It was when Dante disappeared from Nero's sight that he rounded the column she was behind to see her there.

"Hmm." He said as he walked past her looking at her changed appearance and then putting his hand on her face before leaving her there to reappear to the kid on the other side.

He recognized her even with her short dark hair.

Roe peaked around the column to see that Dante was mocking the young man by putting Rebellion's point on the floor and acting like he was revving it up. She put her hand over her face in annoyance in Dante's sometimes immature style of mocking his enemies, or in this instance, his family. If she could stop them, she would, but she wasn't strong enough. She would never be strong enough.

"You've got a trick up your sleeve." She squeezed her eyes shut as the fight escalated from there. Dante stated he had some time to kill, then somehow, this turned into some sort of dick measuring contest.

The fight went on for a good while. Roe was able to see the whole thing from where she stood, even going as far as to say she was thoroughly entertained watching Dante fight. There was something about the way he always remained calm and collected during a good fight, even going as far as teasing his opponent to swing the fight in his favor. It was so Dante and he hadn't changed.

It wasn't until Nero had Dante pinned to the ground and was using his face as a punching bag that Roe really wanted to step in, but when she saw Dante flicker in between triggering, she backed off. He was getting agitated with the whole thing; her interference would only serve as an unwanted distraction, so she stayed where she was. It appears Dante underestimated Nero, even going as far as critically underestimating what the young man could do. It was proven when the kid swung Dante around so hard, he landed right in the center of the statue of his father with Nero quickly launching Rebellion at him.

"I swear he is a pincushion." Roe mumbled under her breath as the sword went through Dante's chest for what was the tenth time since she had known him. She had thought she had gotten used to it by now but seeing him lifelessly dangling there still felt like her heart was being squeezed in her chest.

"It seems that I underestimated you, Kid." She sighed in relief hearing his voice as he pushed himself off the stature with Rebellion still in his chest. He landed in front of Nero and removed the sword before he used it to lean on.

"What are you?" Nero asked him with a confused look on his face as Dante gestured to the bodies all around them.

"You and I are just like them, only I am better looking." The devil hunter said before putting his sword on his shoulder. "In all seriousness, they selfishly took their power and it turned them into this." He moved over to one of the white clothed bodies on the floor and turned it over with his foot to reveal its true face. Black with lidless yellow eyes. "Though I suspect you are a little different." Dante said before exiting the way he came. "See you around, Kid. Adios!"

"Hey wait!" Nero growled out being the hot-headed kid he was and shot at Dante before he disappeared, and he was about to shoot again before Roe found her way to him. She put a hand on his outstretched arm and looked at him. "What...?"

"Don't waste your shots on the wrong target, Nero." He didn't recognize her. This was a good thing and it served her purpose well. "There are things you don't understand, and he has answers to your questions." She said before walking away to leave him alone right as Credo came in. It was time for her to find Dante and figure out just what was going on.

As she exited the cathedral nothing was out of the normal, except the man leaning up against an outside column hidden away from the sunlight. She quickly drew her pistol and aimed it at him. He in turn aimed his two pistols at her. It was like love at first sight.

"So, what is a girl like you doing in a place like this?" He said putting the two pistols away and coming to circle he as she put hers away.

"Working." She said giving him a smirk and looking him in the eyes. It was a call back to years ago when he had run into her at the blackjack table and that confirmed her identity to him. She pushed him out of sight and up against a wall. "What are you doing here?"

"Babe, that is a very long story that I don't really have time to tell." Dante put his hands up in defense, not that should could do any harm to him, but it was just that when she was cross with him, it tended to end badly.

"Where are the kids?" Roe glared at him wondering where her babies were and if they were safe. She wasn't upset that he had come to probably get her off the island, but it was more because she was worried about her children. "Are they okay?"

"They are fine. With Nina and Patty actually." Dante watched as her face visibly relaxed and she backed away putting her arms around herself like she was cold. He took a step forward and reached out to touch her short hair. "What happened?" Obviously, she had been through a lot in the last couple weeks.

"I'll tell you later." She reached forward and wrapped her arms around him, relieved to see him and to be able to feel his solid form again. She missed his scent and his warmth so much. He responded to her by wrapping his arms around her as well.

"I don't like your hair." Dante said as he let her go and then grabbed her hand pulling her along as he walked away from the cathedral.

"I don't either." She smiled because she knew he wouldn't like what she had done with her hair.


	14. Nero

The first thing Dante thought when he saw the kid running to the cathedral in Fortuna, was about how he was going to be a problem. At first the Devil Hunter thought that the kid was just some punk who dyed his hair white to be different, but that didn't seem to be the case once he got a good look at him. Dante rubbed his chin thinking about it hard. Okay, sure, the kid had some family resemblance, but that didn't mean that he was family. Right?

It wasn't until he had fought with the kid that he learned, he possibly had more family out there than he could've imagined. So, Dante made the decision to at least keep tabs on the kid, who he later found out was named Nero. Roe had suggested he mentor the kid because she really did like him. She also pointed out that he was very much like Vergil and that the only thing keeping him from being like Vergil was the brown eyed girl, Kyrie.

"I need this." The way Nero pleaded to Dante to let him have Yamato struck a chord in the older man that brought him back to days he thought he had forgotten. That was when he looked at Roe who had been sitting on the window seal nearby. She nodded confirming his decision.

"Then keep it." He didn't need any more confirmation than that to know that he was speaking with his nephew. "It's got to stay in the family." The comment seemed to go over Nero's head, but he was certain in that moment that the kid was indeed family. "Now that you've got your head screwed on straight, get going." Dante stood there as the kid walked past him and there was that sense of satisfaction that he had somehow impacted his life. "Hey, what's your name?" He knew the name.

"Nero." Dante didn't turn around. "You're Dante, right? Not a bad name." A compliment that seemed to make an impact on both.

"Neither is yours." The Devil Hunter smiled as he put Rebellion on his shoulder and looked to Roe who had a happy smile on her face.

The next time Dante had run into his newfound nephew, it was when the kid was being swallowed up by a giant demonic statue. He was sure he would have to kick Nero's ass anyway for allowing the old geezer standing on top of the statue to take Yamato. This was going to make his job harder, but he was up for the challenge.

"I'll help Trish get everyone to safety." Roe had said before walking away, but he grabbed her.

"You were right." She only put a hand over his and smiled wisely before he let her go.

The journey to get Yamato back to Nero was somewhat difficult. He felt like he had gone around in circles for a good bit and then the fact that he had a few more devil arms to sell later, was a big plus. It was like backtracking because he had been to the forest before. Nero crossed his mind a few times during his adventure killing demons. He almost felt the same way he did when discovering his own son, and then finding out that Roe was pregnant with Mara. Only, it was slightly different. It was hard to describe.

The question on Dante's mind was should he tell Nero that they were related? It was a hard one to answer and perhaps Roe could help him find clarity on the subject like always. However, his thoughts turned to what would happen after he and Roe left Fortuna. He was pretty sure that the kid would be okay on his own and if the kid really needed him, he could easily be found.

When he finally saw Nero emerge from the giant ugly statue that resembled his father, Dante felt a bit of relief. Roe had been standing there with him along with Trish and Lady and they all watched as Nero had plummeted down to the earth with Kyrie in his arms.

"Huh, the kid lives." Dante said as Roe put her arm through his. "The show isn't over yet." He looked at the seemingly dead statue come back to life one last time. "He can handle this."

"Are you sure?" Roe asked him from where she stood with a concerned look etched on her face.

"Yeah." The Devil Hunter had confidence in Nero's abilities at this point. "He's got this." He watched as Nero took down the 'Savior' with ease thanks to that arm of his. Dante wondered where he could get an arm like that.

A few minutes later Dante found himself standing in front of the kid with a grin on his face as Nero went to give Yamato back to him. In truth, the sword rightfully belonged to Nero, so it was only natural that he keeps it. Vergil wasn't around to take it and then Dante had no use for the sword. He couldn't get the damn thing to perform for him like Vergil could.

"You keep it." Nero looked at him with slight surprise when Roe had come to stand next to Dante. "What am I going to do with another sword anyway?"

"Nero, you really should hold on to it. He is likely to pawn it off and it will end up in the wrong hands again." Roe said as Dante scowled at the truth of that statement.

"Dude, she has you." Nero laughed as Roe walked up to him and put a hand on his cheek.

"If you need anything, you call us." She said before giving him a hung to which he awkwardly looked at Dante about. The older man shrugged and mouthed the words 'she's very motherly' to the kid.

"Okay. I will." Nero went with it and watched as she went back to Dante who turned around and started walking off. "Hey Dante! Will I ever see you again?" The only answer he got was a wave and a smile from Roe.

"At least someone gets the girl." Lady said as they watched Nero and Kyrie.

"What are you talking about? I've got my girl right here." Dante went to defend himself as he found that to be a blow to his ego. He wrapped his arm around Roe.

"Settle down there, Cowboy, she was referring to the fact that he got his girl." She put a hand on his chest as Lady began to walk away with Trish. "No need to let your ego deflate. You can have me anytime, anywhere." She winked at him before walking away and suddenly he felt a little hot.

"Yeah Baby!"


End file.
